Harborough passengers told to only travel if essential as strikes hit railway this bank holiday weekend
People in Market Harborough are being told to only travel on the railways if it is essential as staff walk for two days this bank holiday weekend.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) will run a “significantly reduce timetable” on Sunday, August 30 and Monday, August 31.
This comes as workers in the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union announced they would strike over ongoing safety concerns and train faults regarding the new Class 810 trains.
EMR said it is “working closely with Hitachi Rail to ensure that concerns are being properly addressed”.
The RMT Union was approached for comment.
Customers are being asked to only travel if it is “absolutely essential” and are told to check check their full journey, including first and last trains.
There will be no rail replacement buses and people are told there is a chance of only having standing room on the limited services.
On both days, there will be one Intercity service to Nottingham and one to Sheffield each hour.
Philippa Cresswell, EMR’s customer experience director, said: "We recognise how frustrating this disruption will be for customers, particularly following the three Saturdays affected by RMT strike action earlier this month, and we are very sorry for the impact this will have on August bank holiday plans.
"We continue to have constructive discussions with the RMT and have met with the union six times as we work towards resolving the issues at the heart of this dispute.
On Sunday, there will also be no LNER trains between London King's Cross and Peterborough while Network Rail upgrades the digital signalling system on the East Coast Main Line.
LNER trains will start and end at Peterborough, where rail replacement buses will run to and from Bedford for onward connections with Thameslink to London St Pancras.
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said: “RMT is demanding that whilst these faults exist and until these trains are shown to be operating properly, they should be taken out of service. “It is now time for EMR management to act on the safety concerns of our members.”
More strikes are planned for September 16 and 17.