There are three types of industrial action confirmed to be taking place in May and June:
- ASLEF strike action on Friday 12 May, Wednesday 31 May and Saturday 3 June– On these dates there will be no train service in any location.
- RMT strike action on Saturday 12 May – On this date, similar to the experience in March 2023, services will be limited across the network, with a post 07:00 start, an early shut down and no service in some locations.
- ASLEF ban of overtime between Monday 15 May – Saturday 20 May inclusive and Thursday 1 June – On these dates, with the exception of Saturday 20 May, an amended timetable with fewer services will run – more details below.
As there is considerable variation between days, it will be really important that customers use journey planners such as at www.nationalrail.co.uk or on our websites to plan their journeys. On dates where train services are available, we recommend customers plan carefully and expect longer waiting times and busier trains.
The attached table shows dates affected by industrial action in the left column and the expected update for journey planners in the right column.
Services during ASLEF overtime ban
We know many customers will now sadly be familiar with the effect of either RMT or ASLEF strike action on the network. The ASLEF overtime ban between Monday 15 May and Saturday 20 May inclusive and on Thursday 1 June (day after ASLEF strike on 31 May) is however a new impact.
Between Monday 15 and Friday 19 May inclusive an amended timetable will be introduced to provide greater certainty to customers about train times and frequencies with the aim of avoiding last minute cancellations.
The amended timetable will, for the Govia Thameslink Railway network as a whole, provide approximately 75% of a normal weekday’s service. This will vary by individual route, but it has been designed to try and cover as many typical journeys such as school travel as possible.
Customers will be able to plan journeys from Wednesday 10 May and summary information is available on the industrial action pages of our websites such as Thameslink - Industrial action (thameslinkrailway.com).
It is advised that customers plan journeys carefully and anticipate busier trains and the potential need to queue, particularly for peak time services. Mondays and Fridays are much less busy than other weekdays, so customers with some flexibility in their travel plans may benefit from switching to these dates or similarly by travelling outside the high peak of central London arrivals between 08:00 and 09:00, and departures between 17:00 and 18:00.
On Saturday 20 May, the service level will be different and much closer to the customer experience of an RMT strike date with a late start to services, an early finish and no service on some routes.