Passengers Face Disruption as Avanti West Coast Train Managers Strike
Travelers are advised to expect significant disruptions due to upcoming strikes by Avanti West Coast train managers on key dates
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London: Passengers are in for a rough ride as Avanti West Coast train managers plan to strike on New Year’s Eve and January 2. This is all due to a disagreement over working conditions, especially regarding rest days.
Avanti is urging folks to travel on different days if they can. They’re expecting a much-reduced timetable on those strike days, which means fewer trains will be running.
On the strike days, they’ll only have one train an hour going from London Euston to places like Birmingham, Manchester, and Preston. If you’re heading to Glasgow, there’ll be a limited service too.
And it gets worse—North Wales, Blackpool, and Edinburgh won’t have any Avanti services at all on those days. So, if you’re in Macclesfield or Warrington, you’re out of luck.
Avanti is advising everyone to plan ahead and check their travel details. Kathryn O’Brien from Avanti expressed disappointment over the strikes, saying they’ll cause a lot of hassle for travelers.
She mentioned that customers with tickets for those days should consider traveling on other dates or get a full refund without any fees. Avanti is still open to discussions with the RMT to sort this out.
But it doesn’t stop there—RMT members will also be striking every Sunday from January 12 until May 25, 2025. The union’s spokesperson said that their members have rejected Avanti’s offers, and they feel that striking is the only way to get management’s attention.
RMT’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, pointed out that Avanti created this situation by ignoring the concerns of train managers. He’s calling for the company to come up with a better proposal to avoid more strikes in the future.