CrossCountry strike suspended but warnings remain

A planned strike on Saturday 18 October has been called off

Rail passengers are being warned there will still be "significant disruption" despite planned industrial action being suspended.

CrossCountry says its services will be impacted with a reduced timetable as it is too late to reinstate a normal timetable on services this weekend.

Although members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) have called off a walk-out planned for Saturday 18 October, only a significantly-reduced number of services will be able to run to the South West, South Coast and north of York.

Shiona Rolfe, CrossCountry's managing director, said she was "pleased" to have made progress but "sincerely sorry" for the potential disruption.

"Timetabling processes require train operators to finalise planned services several days in advance, which means that we are not able to reinstate a normal timetable," she added.

Passengers have been encouraged to check the CrossCountry website before travelling as some routes will run a limited service and others with no service at all.

Services will also be impacted by planned engineering works and will finish much earlier than usual.

What impact will there be?

Limited services will run between:

• Birmingham and Manchester

• Birmingham and Bristol

• Birmingham and Leeds/York

• Birmingham and Reading

• Some services will extend to Southampton and Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, there will be no services on routes between:

• Birmingham – Leicester – Cambridge/Stansted Airport

• Gloucester and Cardiff

• Derby and Nottingham

• Bristol/Somerset and Plymouth/Paignton/Penzance

• Edinburgh and Glasgow/Aberdeen

• Southampton and Bournemouth (due to engineering work)

The RMT has also announced another day of planned industrial action on Saturday 1 November.