Industrial Action: Essential Travel Advice December and January

Page last updated 5 January 2023

Following the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport worker’s (RMT) ballot for industrial action, strike action is planned for Tuesday 3 January, Wednesday 4 January, Friday 6 January and Saturday 7 January. We will not be affected by the ASLEF industrial action on 5 January, but trains may be busier as people come from affected areas.

Significant disruption is expected on all lines, as well as services starting later and finishing much earlier than usual. On the c2c route, we are operating a reduced service with trains running between 07:30 – 18:30 only.

We are advising passengers to only travel if it is essential, work from home if they can and to plan ahead if they do intend to travel, which will allow our severely reduced service to be utilised by those making essential journeys. 

The service set to run equates to less than a third of normal service levels, and consists of:

Friday 6 and Saturday 7

• 2 trains per hour from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness via Laindon
• 2 trains per hour from Fenchurch Street to Pitsea via Rainham
• No service to or from Ockendon or Chafford Hundred

Timetables are now available for 4-8 January.

Rob Mullen, c2c Managing Director, said: “I’m really disappointed that an agreement with our Trade Unions hasn’t been reached. The impact of this ongoing action is significant for our customers and colleagues. I’m hopeful that further meetings with the unions are productive and see progress made toward concluding this challenging time for the railway.”

We would advise customers to check before they travel here: www.nationalrail.co.uk

If your service is affected by disruption, cross-industry ticket acceptance and temporary removal of certain ticket restrictions may be made available. If you purchased an Off-Peak or Anytime ticket and choose not to travel because your service has been cancelled, delayed or rescheduled, you may be entitled to a fee-free refund or change from the original retailer of your ticket.

• Tickets for 13, 14, 16 and 17 December can instead be used the day before the date on the ticket, or up to and including Tuesday 20 December
• Tickets for 24 December can instead be used on either 21, 22, 23 December or up to and including Thursday 29 December
• Tickets for 26 and 27 December can instead be used on 23 December or up to and including Thursday 29 December
• Tickets for 3, 4, 6 and 7 January can instead be used the day before the date on the ticket, or up to and including Tuesday 10 January

We will do all we can to honour passengers’ tickets, however the industrial action will cause significant disruption. Customers will have the following options:

• Refunds: If your service has been cancelled, delayed or rescheduled, you will be entitled to a change or refund from the original retailer of your ticket. Find out more about applying for a refund here.
• Season Ticket holders (monthly or longer only) who are unable to travel due to timetable disruption on the day that strike action has been cancelled, can claim 100% compensation through Delay Repay for the strike dates if their journey is valid for one or more legs, on a train company impacted by industrial action.
• Flexi Season Ticket holders who have activated a day’s travel for a strike day and were then unable or choose not to travel, can claim 100% compensation for these days through Delay Repay if their journey is valid for one or more legs, on a train company impacted by industrial action.
• Season Ticket holders (all durations) who choose to travel will be eligible for Delay Repay compensation if their journey is delayed against the timetable in operation.
• Changing operator or route: To help minimise any disruption, you may be able to use your ticket on another train company or an alternative route. Please contact the train company you are due to travel with for more information.
• Travel within London: customers presenting magstripe National Rail tickets (Singles, Returns or Season Tickets) for journeys across London are permitted to travel on TfL services (bus, Tube, tram or DLR) on reasonable routes only, on the days of the National Rail industrial action only. Barcode and tickets on smartcard cannot be accepted by TfL staff. Please note if your ticket is for a journey that includes crossing London it will not be valid on London Underground services on an alternative date. Please contact the original retailer of your ticket for more information.
• Return Journey: If you do not/cannot make your outward journey because of a strike, you can have a refund on your outward and return ticket even if the latter is not affected by a strike. And the same if the return journey was affected by a strike but the outward journey was not.