Industrial Action

If your train is cancelled or delayed, and you choose not to travel, tickets can be changed to another date, or they can be returned for a full refund at your point of purchase. No administration fee will be charged. For more information, please visit our Refund & Exchanges policy.

If you have a Season Ticket that is monthly or longer, or have an activated days’ worth of travel on a Flexi Season ticket, and are unable to travel due to timetable disruption on the day that strike action has been called, then you can claim 100% compensation for these days through Delay Repay

If you’re a Weekly season ticket holder and do not travel on a strike day, you will not be able to claim compensation. If you choose to travel but your journey is delayed or disrupted, based on the amended timetable, you are entitled to Delay Repay as normal.

To make sure that a weekly season ticket is the best value for you, check the National’s Rail handy season ticket calculator .

This depends which union is taking industrial action and the nature of the action.

The majority of our train crew are represented by two unions – the RMT (Senior Conductors) and ASLEF (Drivers). A number of our staff who work in roles not usually seen by the public, such as roster clerks or in control rooms, are represented by TSSA.

In the event of ASLEF strike action we are unable to run any services.

In the event of RMT or TSSA strike action we are usually able to run a limited service by using staff who are not participating in strike action. Details of services will be posted on our website and social media channels and updated in online Journey Planners.

Action short of a strike means that individuals will work normally, apart from when there are duties that the union is asking its members to refuse to undertake.

In practice this could be an overtime ban or working strictly to rostered hours, only undertaking specific duties noted in a job description. The terms of action short of a strike can differ between unions.

This can result in a lack of resilience to cover absences, or a lack of available staff in the event of disruption or delays that may see staff work above their regular hours.

The result of the above may lead to amended timetables and on the day cancellations, particularly if there is disruption to services.

Temporary timetables will be uploaded into journey planners as soon as possible after industrial action is announced – we’ll let you know via the information at the top of this page when to expect updated timetables so you can plan your journey.

During RMT or TSSA strike action our resources are limited. As a result, we are only able to run services on a reduced number of routes.

During ASLEF strike action, we are unable to run services on any part of our network.

Passenger Assistance provision will be available as usual on services we are able to run and can still be booked with two hours' notice or customers can turn up and go.

However, we are strongly advising customers to only travel if your journey is essential and you have no other means of transport available.

Please note we will not be able to provide Passenger Assistance outside of those routes/services advertised in our Strike-day timetables.

In order to run our usual timetable, trains must be in designated positions at the start and end of each day. The strike action means there will be some disruption to days either side of strike days as trains cannot be moved into their correct positions. This will usually impact on the final services of the evening before any strike action or the morning following strike actions but we encourage customers to check their services on the day via our live information sources on the national rail website / app.

Due to the scale of this strike action it is not possible to provide rail replacement transport.

If you have purchased a ticket and your train is cancelled or delayed, and you choose not to travel, you can return the unused ticket to your point of purchase for a full refund.

If you hold a season ticket, you will be entitled to Delay Repay compensation if you travel on an affected date.

If you don't make your outbound journey because of the strike, you are entitled to a refund on your outbound 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 outbound was not.

Advance tickets will be withdrawn on strike dates due to the disruption to journeys.

You will be eligible to claim Delay Repay if your journey is delayed by 15 minutes or more against the revised timetable in operation on a strike day. Please keep hold of your ticket and submit your claim within 28 days of travel.

If you’re claiming Delay Repay compensation against a service removed from the timetable due to action short of a strike, you're advised to apply for compensation from the retailer you originally bought your ticket from. If you require further advice on making a claim, please contact us directly.

Claims against other services not highlighted above, including on the day cancellations should be applied through the normal Delay Repay Portal . If you’re having difficulty submitting your claim, please contact us.

Please check with the relevant operator or National Rail Enquiries for information.