Northern publishes travel advice calendar ahead of more ASLEF & RMT strikes this week

Travel advice calendar - May 2023 strikes

Strike action by ASLEF and the RMT union will bring significant disruption to Northern train services on two days later this week.

Members of the ASLEF union, who largely represent train drivers, will walk out on Friday 12 May, forcing the train operator to cancel all services.

RMT members will strike on Saturday 13 May, on which Northern will only be able to operate hourly services on a small number of key routes between 7am and 7pm.

For more information, customers should visit: www.northernrailway.co.uk/strikes

Whilst there is no strike action on Sunday 14 May, services are expected to start later in the morning than normal due to fleet displacement.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “It is disappointing to see the return of industrial action to the rail network.

“Whilst all strikes disrupt someone, these particular dates will have a significant impact on people travelling on our network to celebrate the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool.

“Given the context in which the UK is hosting this international event - on behalf of the people of Ukraine - this is particularly unfortunate.”

Further ASLEF action, known as ‘action short of strike’ will take place for five consecutive days from Monday 15 to Friday 20 May. On those dates, customers are advised to ‘check before you travel’ as early-morning and late-night services may be affected.

ASLEF members are also due to walk out on Wednesday 31 May and Saturday 3 June on which there will be no Northern services.

This month’s strike action comes ahead of Northern introducing its new summer timetable on Sunday 21 May. Customers who make regular journeys on the same train times are advised to check before they travel as some services may have been re-timed.

For more information, visit: www.northernrailway.co.uk/timetablechange.