Strikes to significantly affect East Midlands rail services

Passengers are advised to find alternative transport

Strike action is likely to disrupt rail services in the East Midlands significantly next week, operators have said.

Thousands of workers are set to walk out across the country on 21, 23 and 25 June after the RMT union announced the strike action.

Network Rail has advised passengers not to travel on trains unless necessary during the strikes.

Local and mainline services in the East Midlands will be affected.

East Midlands Railway (EMR) said the number of services would be significantly reduced.

It said trains would run between 07:30 and 18:30 BST only, with one per hour between Nottingham and London.

It said its regional services also would be limited to one train per hour between Derby and Matlock, Derby and Nottingham, Leicester and Nottingham, and Nottingham and Sheffield.

All other lines will be closed and the company said replacement bus services would not be provided for closed lines.

Will Rogers, managing director for EMR said: "We are extremely disappointed the RMT have decided to strike.

"There will be changes to our normal timetable and some parts of our network will have no train services on strike days and other lines will have a reduced level of service."

Regional services will be limited

CrossCountry said its services would also be limited, both on the strike dates and other days next week.

Its hours of operation will be also be reduced to between 07:30 and 18:30 on strike days.

However, it said no trains would run on the Leicester to Stansted Airport route or on its Derby to Nottingham route - where EMR will operate one train an hour.

Between Birmingham and Leicester, one train will run per hour.

Richard Morris, CrossCountry's regional director, said: "We are working with industry partners to offer the best service possible despite the actions of the RMT.

"We remain open to speaking with union colleagues to reach a compromise. However, if the strike goes ahead it will cause significant disruption."

LNER said it would be running around 38% of their usual trains and they were likely to be very busy.

It said its last train between London and Edinburgh would run at 14:00 and recommended deferring travel over the period if possible.

Mick Lynch, RMT general secretary said: "All our members want is a deal that protects their jobs and gives them a pay rise that reflects the cost of living.

"And they are prepared to take strike action in order to force the government to recognise their just campaign for a fair deal."

Transport secretary Grant Shapps has urged the unions to call off the strikes.