Cornwall’s railways are set for days of disruption as the latest wave of industrial action by the ASLEF trade union approaches.
The strike, primarily involving train drivers, will see multiple days of disruption in addition to the strike day on February 5, as ASLEF members will also undertake several days known as ‘action short of a strike’, where they decline to work any overtime outside of their contracted hours.
On Sunday, February 4, a day where there is ‘action short of a strike’, there will be no long distance services between London Paddington and the South West, including Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance.
There will, however, be a limited service between Plymouth and Penzance, where for onward services passengers would need to change to a service between Plymouth and Exeter.
In addition, there will be a limited service on Devon and Cornwall’s branch lines, including Gunnislake to Plymouth, Okehampton to Exeter, Par to Newquay, Truro to Falmouth, St Ives to St Erth and Looe to Liskeard.
The Night Riviera service will not run for the duration of the action due to pre-planned engineering work on the line.
On February 5, a strike day has been declared on GWR services, meaning that services will be extremely limited or non-operation.
The vast majority of services in and out of Cornwall will be non-operational on this day, with only a very limited branch line service operating between Plymouth and Gunnislake and Penzance to St Ives. No services will operate outside of the hours of 7am and 7pm.
A spokesperson for Great Western Railway (GWR) said: “On Sunday, February 4 and Monday February 5, there will be significant disruption to services and customers should travel on alternative days. A reduced timetable will operate and many parts of the GWR network will have no service at all. Trains that are running will only be operating for a limited period during the day.
“If you intend to travel on Sunday and Monday, please check before you travel. Trains that are operating will be busier than usual because GWR will not be able to offer the normal service frequency. Other train operators are also affected by strike action, so onward travel could also be affected.
“Where GWR can run services, they are expected to be extremely busy and bus replacement services are not able to be provided.
“On Tuesday February 6, there will be some changes to the first services of the day including some planned cancellations. Please check before you travel.
“Limited disruption continues this week which could see some short-notice alterations and cancellations.
“If you are travelling this week, up to Saturday, February 3, check both outward and return journeys before travelling. GWR plans to operate a near normal level of service, however, there will be some, limited short notice changes and cancellations.”