Strikes to disrupt travel on TransPennine Express services this weekend

Rail travellers are being urged to plan ahead with further strike actions by the Rail, Transport and Maritime (RMT) union due to disrupt trains across the North and into Scotland this Sunday (8 May).

Rail operator TransPennine Express (TPE) will only be running a very limited service on this date and is recommending that people avoid travel and make their journeys either side of Sunday instead.

Anyone that needs to make an essential journey by rail should plan carefully, check before and allow plenty of extra time to travel as any services that do run will be very busy. Bikes will not be permitted on-board TPE services on Sunday.

Information on the services the train company is intending to run on Sunday can be found here.

Network Rail is carrying out engineering work between Carlisle and Edinburgh/Glasgow on Saturday and Sunday, with a replacement bus service running between Carlisle, Lockerbie Edinburgh and Glasgow.

RMT strike action is also planned to take place on Sundays up to and including 5 June, as well as on Saturday 4 June.

Kathryn O’Brien, customer experience director for TransPennine Express said: “With more and more people returning to rail, it’s really disappointing that RMT is continuing to disrupt people’s journeys across our network.

“We are recommending that customers avoid travel again this Sunday because of the planned strike and make their journeys either side of this instead.”

To help customers get where they need to be on Sunday, TPE has arranged ticket acceptance with several other train operators: Northern, Avanti West Coast (between Wigan and Carlisle), CrossCountry (between Leeds and Edinburgh),  Lumo (between Newcastle and Edinburgh), LNER (on Sunday only between York and Edinburgh), ScotRail, Hull Trains (between Hull and Doncaster) and Transport for Wales services. Ticket acceptance is also in place for FirstBus services in West Yorkshire for customers who may need to use a bus service to complete a rail journey.

Some exclusions will apply and full details are available via the TPE website.

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