Following the announcement by the RMT about impending strike action, the rail industry is currently working on implementing its contingency plans to minimise customer disruption as much as possible.
Rail Strike: National Rail advice for passengers affected ahead of national strike
In the event of your service being affected by strike action cross industry ticket easements and acceptance may be made available.
National Rail has set out this advice for affected rail passengers.
If you have purchased an Advance, Off-Peak or Anytime ticket and choose not to travel, you will be eligible for a change or refund from the original retailer of your ticket.
Why is there a rail strike ?
The RMT has balloted about 40,000 members across Network Rail and 15 train companies for industrial action over pay and terms and conditions. The rail industry wants to work with the RMT to bring how it runs its services up to date, so that it is more reliable, more affordable and inspires more customers back on board.
What is the industry doing to minimise disruption?
While unfortunately, disruption in the event of industrial action is inevitable, the industry will do all it can to minimise the impact of potential strike action for our passengers and help you plan around it and keep moving this summer.
To help with this, we will be keeping this page updated regularly with the latest travel information. We will shortly release a timetable for strike days which gives passengers certainty around which services are running. We will ask that where possible, passengers check before they travel and look for alternative means of transport if your journey is affected, to avoid disruption on strike days.
Which services are affected?
We are currently updating our timetables for strike dates, you will find and the latest information at www.nationalrail.co.uk/industrialaction as soon as it becomes available. Customers are encouraged to only buy Anytime and Off-Peak tickets once they know their train is running.
How are you helping people who have already bought tickets and could be affected?
We will do all we can to honour passengers’ tickets, however the industrial action planned by the RMT 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*.
- Changing travel plans: All non-Season Ticket validity is extended for travel on the day before, or up to two days after, any strike action takes place (if discontinuous). Please note if your ticket is for a through fare that includes the London Underground it will not be valid on London Underground services on an alternative date. Please contact the original retailer of your ticket for more information.
- Changing train company or route: To help minimise any disruption, you may be able to use your ticket on another train company or an alternative route.
Will I get a refund if my service is cancelled due to strike action?
In the event of your service being affected by strike action, cross-industry ticket acceptance and temporary removal of certain ticket restrictions may be made available.
If you purchased an Advance, Off-Peak or Anytime ticket and choose not to travel because your service has been cancelled, delayed or rescheduled, you will be entitled to a refund or change from the original retailer of your ticket*
Why have you paused Advance tickets?
We have suspended the sale of Advance fares on strike days until the timetable for the strike days have been finalised. We don’t want to mislead customers into thinking that we are able to run a full service or sell them tickets for trains that may not run.
It’s likely that we will be running many fewer services on strike days and so we don’t want to sell tickets to more passengers than we can accommodate.
Whilst Anytime and Off-peak fares will still show for strike days, we would encourage customers to wait until the day of travel or until the timetable is confirmed before buying a ticket. Once we know which trains are running, some Advance fares will be back on sale.
Customers who have already purchased Advance tickets on strike days will be entitled to a fee-free change of journey by contacting the original retailer of their ticket up until 6pm the day before they travel.
If my service is affected by strike action will you refund my taxi or hotel bills?
While we cannot fund taxi or hotel bills, if you decide to travel during a strike period and your chosen train is affected, you may be able to use your ticket on another train company or by an alternative route. Where disruption prevents you from completing your journey for which your Ticket is valid and is being used, any train company will, where it reasonably can, provide you with alternative means of travel to your destination, or if necessary, provide overnight accommodation for you.
If you choose not to travel because your service has been cancelled, delayed or rescheduled you will be entitled to a refund*.
If you choose to travel and are delayed on your journey, you will be able to claim compensation if the delay meets the Delay Repay threshold.
What type of allowances will be made if my service is affected by Industrial Action?
If you choose to travel and your service has been cancelled due to RMT strike action, you may be able to use your Advance, Off-Peak or Anytime ticket on a different train company or route. In some cases it may be possible to use your ticket for travel the day before or up to two days after strike activity has ended. Please contact the train company you are travelling with for more information.
Please note refunds and changes can only be made by the original retailer of your ticket*.
I purchased an Advance ticket but my train is no longer running, can I travel on a different train?
If you purchased an Advance ticket and your chosen train has been affected by RMT strike action, you may be able to use your ticket on an alternative train on the same route. If you choose not to travel you may be able to amend when you travel fee-free by contacting the original retailer of your ticket up until 6pm the day before you travel.
For more information please visit www.nationalrail.co.uk/advance
Can I get a refund on my Season ticket?
If you have purchased a Season Ticket and would like a refund due to RMT strike action affecting your journey, you can apply for a refund from the original retailer of your ticket. Please note you will need to surrender your Season Ticket back to the original retailer and an admin fee of no more than £10 may apply. Season Tickets cannot be ‘paused’ due to industrial action.
Refunds are calculated from the date you return your Season Ticket and will be the difference between the price you paid and the cost of a ticket or tickets for the period for which you have used the ticket up to and including the date you request a refund.
Compensation for Season Ticket holders
If you are affected by cancellation or disruption to your journey, you may be entitled to compensation if the delay to your journey meets the Delay Repay threshold for the train company you are travelling with.
See www.nationalrail.co.uk/compensation for details
Can I get a refund on my Flexi-Season ticket?
If you have purchased a Flexi-Season ticket and would like a refund of any unused days due to RMT strike action affecting your journey, you can apply for a refund but an admin fee of no more than £10 may apply.
Refunds are calculated from the difference between the price you paid for the Flexi Season ticket and the cost of an Anytime Day Return (or closest matching ticket) for each day you have already used. If you only have one or two days left on your Flexi Season you may find that no refund is available. The 28-day validity of Flexi-Season tickets cannot be extended.
Compensation for Flexi-Season ticket holders
If you are affected by cancellation or disruption to you journey, you may be entitled to compensation if the delay to your journey meets the Delay Repay threshold.
See www.nationalrail.co.uk/compensation for details.
The train I was planning to take has been delayed, can I get a refund?
Yes, you are entitled to a refund under Condition 30.1 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel.
Alternatively, if you choose to travel and your train is delayed for more than 60 minutes you may be able to use your ticket to make your journey at a later date, subject to the restrictions of your ticket. Please contact the train company you are travelling with for more information.
My train has been rescheduled can I get a refund?
Yes, you are entitled to a refund under Condition 30.1 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel. If you have purchased a ticket and your train has been cancelled, delayed or rescheduled due to RMT strike action then you will be entitled to a refund or change of journey*. Please visit the retailer of your ticket for more information.
Can I use my train ticket on a different day?
If you’ve bought an Advance, Off-Peak or Anytime train ticket and your chosen service has been affected by RMT strike action you may be able to use it to travel the day before, or up to two days after the strike action has ended.
Please contact your train company for more information.
If my journey is disrupted can I use my Standard ticket to travel First Class?
The normal terms and conditions of your ticket will apply, but in some cases a train company may relax the restriction at their discretion.
We will make information available when a service has been declassified.
Will I be eligible for Delay Repay?
If the delay to your journey meets the Delay Replay threshold as a result of RMT strike action, you will be entitled to compensation from the train company that you are travelling with.
See www.nationalrail.co.uk/compensation for more information
Due to RMT strike action I will need to get to an alternative train station to start my journey, will my Car Park Season Ticket be valid?
Station car parks are, in a majority of cases, managed on behalf of train companies by a third-party operator so it may not be possible to temporarily transfer a car park season ticket to another location. Please contact the train company that manages the station your car park season ticket is valid at, or the third-party car park operator, for details of any easements.
Find your station information at www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations
• 50,000 railway workers to strike over three days in June to ‘shutdown the rail network’
