Chiltern Railways warns customers to only travel if absolutely essential on days affected by RMT strike
Train operator Chiltern Railways have issued strong guidance to customers to only travel if absolutely essential on Thursday 18 August and Saturday 20 August due to strike action by the RMT.
On these days, there will be extremely limited availability of staff and as such we will not be able to operate services on most routes.
Due to the strike action, there will be no service north of Banbury on Thursday 18 August. Due to the strike action coupled with planned engineering works, there will be no service north of High Wycombe on Saturday 20 August with no provision of rail replacement buses.
There will be a later start to our services on Friday 19 August and Sunday 21 August. We expect to have significantly less staff to service and prepare the number of trains we would normally need to operate the timetable, and we are unable to position our fleet how we normally would. Customers should check their first train if they are travelling on these days.
Customers are warned that services are likely to be very busy on Friday 19 August. Due to strike action on the London Underground, Chiltern Railways will be unable to run services between Marylebone and Aylesbury Vale Parkway on this day.
Due to engineering works on Sunday 21 August, the railway is closed between High Wycombe and Bicester, and between Princes Risborough and Aylesbury. Rail replacement buses will be in operation on Sunday 21 August between High Wycombe and Bicester North.
Chiltern Railways strongly advises customers to consider their journey and seek alternative methods of transport on the days where strike action is taking place, but in cases where rail travel is a necessity, to check their travel plans and last train home on the Chiltern Railways website (www.chilternrailways.co.uk) or app.
More information and FAQs can be found on www.chilternrailways.co.uk/strike.
Service levels
Thursday 18 August
- Services will begin between 8AM - 9AM
- Services will finish much earlier than usual, check before you travel
- No Chiltern Railways services north of Banbury
1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Oxford Parkway (and vice-versa)
1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Banbury (and vice versa)
1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Aylesbury (via High Wycombe, and vice-versa)
1 train per hour Aylesbury Vale Parkway - stations to Amersham (and vice-versa)
Friday 19 August
- Due to the previous day of strike action, services will begin later than usual
- Due to strike action on the London Underground, we will be unable to run services between Marylebone and Aylesbury Vale Parkway. This affects all stations between Marylebone and Aylesbury Vale Parkway. Services between Aylesbury and Marylebone will run via High Wycombe
Saturday 20 August
- Services will begin between 8AM-9AM
- Services will finish much earlier than usual, check before you travel
- No Chiltern Railways services north of High Wycombe
- No trains will serve the Coldplay concert at Wembley Stadium
2 trains per hour Marylebone - stations to High Wycombe (and vice-versa).
1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Aylesbury (via Amersham, and vice-versa).
Sunday 21 August
- Due to the previous day of strike action, services will begin later than usual
- Due to planned engineering works, the railway is closed between High Wycombe and Bicester, and between Princes Risborough and Aylesbury. Rail replacement buses will be in operation on Sunday 21 August between High Wycombe and Bicester North
- Owing to the above, no trains will serve the Coldplay concert at Wembley Stadium on Sunday 21st August
Contact Information
Matt Turner
Notes to editors
About Chiltern
- Chiltern Railways is part of the Arriva group, one of the leading providers of passenger transport in Europe, employing 53,000 people and delivering 2 billion passenger journeys a year across 14 European countries. Arriva are part of Deutsche Bahn (DB), one of the world’s leading passenger and logistics companies, responsible for DB's passenger transport services outside Germany.
- Chiltern operates commuter/regional rail passenger services from its Central London terminus at London Marylebone along the M40 corridor to destinations in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, as well as long-distance services to the West Midlands along two routes. Services on the Chiltern Main Line run from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill, Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford, with some peak-hour services to Kidderminster.
- Chiltern also runs trains on the London to Aylesbury Line to Aylesbury (with some trains terminating at Aylesbury Vale Parkway instead), on the Princes Risborough to Aylesbury and Oxford to Bicester branch lines.