Chiltern customers reminded of industrial action and engineering work from Monday 7 August
Chiltern Railways is urging customers to check journeys ahead of industrial action and engineering works.
The train operator has asked customers to check before they travel as industrial action and engineering works continue into next week. Currently, an overtime ban by the ASLEF union and engineering works in the Oxford area, as well as between Bicester/Banbury/Leamington, is significantly impacting services and will continue to do so this weekend.
The overtime ban continues from Monday 7 August through to Saturday 12 August, and as a consequence some Chiltern services will be cancelled. Removing these services in advance reduces the risk of on-the-day cancellations and attempts to provide customers with certainty during this period of industrial action.
On Saturday 12 August, Chiltern Railways will not be serving The Betfred Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium. Customers are advised to use London Underground services if they are planning on attending the event.
Throughout next week, customers should check their full journey before they travel on the Chiltern Railways website or app. If services that are cancelled have not yet been removed from industry systems, a note has been applied to specific trains stating that they will not run next week.
Industrial action service provision and travel advice is available at www.chilternrailways.co.uk/strike.
Customers are also reminded that major railway upgrades will impact journeys between Aylesbury, Princes Risborough and Amersham next week.
The first stage of work will see Network Rail engineers making permanent repairs to a Victorian drainage culvert which passes underneath the railway in Aylesbury. Faults found in the structure earlier this year have led to repeated short-notice closures of the line causing disruption for customers.
To fix the issue, the railway will be closed between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Amersham, and Aylesbury and Princes Risborough, between Monday 7 August and Friday 18 August. To keep customers on the move during this time, rail replacement buses will be in operation between:
- Amersham – Great Missenden – Wendover – Stoke Mandeville – Aylesbury – Aylesbury Vale Parkway (for connections to London Underground)
- Princes Risborough – Monks Risborough – Little Kimble – Aylesbury
Immediately after that from 19 August until 29 October, work will take place to allow the new high-speed railway, HS2, to pass under the existing railway. This will mean no train services for 10 weeks between Aylesbury and Princes Risborough, with rail replacement buses continuing to operate between:
- Princes Risborough – Monks Risborough – Little Kimble – Aylesbury
Further engineering work is set to take place between Oxford and Oxford Parkway on Sunday 13 August, with a rail replacement service in operation between the two stations.
Chiltern Railways would like to thank customers for their patience and understanding while industrial action and engineering works significantly affect journeys.
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 around 38,000 people and delivering around 1.5 billion passenger journeys across 10 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 Stourbridge Junction.
- 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.