Derbyshire passengers set for more rail disruption – and are urged not to travel ahead of latest strikes

East Midlands Railway (EMR) will run a reduced level of service on Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18 – due to industrial action by members of the RMT Union.

EMR has been working on contingency plans to provide as many services as possible, but the opening hours of the railway and the number of services it can operate will be significantly reduced.

EMR services on March 16 will only operate between 7.30pm and 6.30pm, and customers are asked to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary.

If customers need to travel, they are asked to plan ahead and leave extra time for their journey. This includes the day after the strike, as knock-on effects will impact early services on Friday, March 17.

On March 16, there will one service every hour on the following routes: Nottingham – London St Pancras, Sheffield – London St Pancras, Corby – London St Pancras, Derby – Matlock, Derby – Nottingham, Sheffield – Nottingham, Leicester – Nottingham, Mansfield Woodhouse – Nottingham.

All other lines will be closed and no rail replacement bus services will be provided.

As in previous strikes, a significant pool of contingency staff have been trained, to the same safety-critical standards as their permanent colleagues, to ensure a service can continue to operate. However, it will not be possible to continue to operate the same level of service as EMR would normally. 

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Will Rogers, managing director for East Midlands Railway, said: “We are advising customers to plan ahead and only travel by rail if absolutely necessary on days affected by industrial action. Customers are also strongly advised to check when the time of their last train is before setting off and understand how the strike action affects their whole journey.

“At present we only have details of services for Thursday, March 16. Customers who need to travel on Saturday, 18 March should check our website, where the information will be shared once plans have been approved.”

Northern Rail are yet to announce their plans for the strike period, but they expect “significant disruption to services on these days.”