Northern advises passengers in Wakefield and Dewsbury against travel on two days next week due to train strikes

Despite suspending action by their members working for Network Rail, the RMT strike for members working for train operators, including Northern, remains in place.

Northern – which runs train services through Wakefield, Pontefract, Dewsbury and other parts of West Yorkshire – will run an amended strike timetable on the affected days, Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18, with a 12-hour operation on selected routes from 7am to 7pm.

In addition to the industrial action next week, there are further RMT strikes planned for Thursday, March 30 and Saturday, April 1.

Given the impact of the RMT action on fleet displacement, services are expected to start later than usual on the days immediately following the strike dates (Friday, March 17 and Sunday, March 19), although a full timetable will run on those days once services are up and running.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “We’re expecting the skeleton services we can run to be very busy – so customers should plan ahead and check before they travel.

“Given the reduced timetable only runs until 7pm, I’m very keen to stress that people should check their ‘last train home’ on those dates – so that customers don’t find themselves stranded at the wrong end of the line as a result of this action by the RMT.”

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with nearly 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.

For more information, customers should visit: www.northernrailway.co.uk/strikes