Did anyone travel by train during the rail strike in June?

[EllieQ]

If you did, how was it? Was it very busy and crowded, or quiet because no one wanted to travel that day?

DH has planned to take DD (age 7) to visit his parents during the first week of the summer holidays, but a train strike has been announced for the day they were going to travel down to the South East (Wed 27 July). As the route from here (Yorkshire) to London is a key route, a few trains may be running (they did during the last strike).

I’m concerned that the trains may be very busy and crowded, and the journey could be stressful, but at the same time DD is looking forward to seeing PIL, and I’m looking forward to a couple of days by myself at home! It is too late for DH to change his leave days (his work is quite strict on booking in advance) and rearrange the visit to another week of the holidays.

So if you did use the train during the last strike day, how was it?

We had to cancel our plans to travel by train and drove instead. The main local rail station was actually closed, no trains ran at all that day (Manchester to London route).

Dd who lives in London found herself stranded after work unable to get home. The buses were packed and not letting passengers on. Ubers were all booked up. She ended up paying more for a taxi home than she had earnt that day.

Sorry if it's not what you wanted to hear.

No need to apologise, that’s the kind of information I need! I think they should travel on Tuesday evening, but DH is often overly optimistic about this kind of thing 🙄We’re in York, so the station was open but with very few trains running.

We had no trains at all and the coach we booked was cancelled as the government took them over for essential travel. We drove to central London as we’d had tickets for the event that was supposed to be in2020 and really didn’t want to miss it.

Can he finish work a bit early the day before and travel down late afternoon/evening? I wouldn't attempt it on a strike day, especially with a young child. Even if you get to London, there may be no trains running out the other side.

X-post with the evening travel suggestion!

Is it a direct train? I had a trip booked to London on one of the strike days, the first leg of the journey was running but the second was cancelled. I'd have been stuck in Birmingham if I hadn't have driven instead.

DD travelled from London to Exeter, she said it was actually incredibly quiet.

Thanks for posting this, I've got a london hotel booked for the 27th, was hoping I could just risk it. Have just booked a hotel for the 26th too.

No because I don't support scab labour.

My parents and other family members were planning to travel the day inbetween the two strikes and when they went to buy the tickets in advance they were refused them and it was advised to avoid the trains because it would be so chaotic. They were planning on getting the train to the airport so ended up getting a mini bus instead

We travelled to London between strike days (despite warnings) and back on a strike day. There was one scheduled service per hour. We didn't risk getting the last train, but all ran to time and Waterloo was quiet, the train was quiet. All fine.

From what my daughter told me many of the train lines going from Waterloo were not as badly affected. The ones going from Euston were a lot worse.

I had to go for dental treatment on the day of the last strike, and couldn't drive because of anaesthetic. I caught a yorkshire to London train (just one stop) and I was literally the only person in the carriage. I found it very surreal.

I think as they have more strikes, the impact will lessen, but it was very very quiet!

A good point, as I do support the aims of the strike.

I don’t support the strike whatsoever. They are greedy so and so’s.

Two trains - here to London, then London to Kent. PIL might be able to collect them from London if there are issues with the second train, but it’s not ideal due to their health issues (FIL recovering from an operation & MIL has been looking after him, so she seems a bit run-down at the moment).

Has he already booked? I'm booked to travel with LNER on the 27th, their website says they're working on a timetable and will contact people who booked directly with them so I'm holding on to see what they say first.

@Vinorosso74 He hasn’t already booked as the plans were only agreed with his parents last week, and he hadn’t got round to it yet (he’s very much a last-minute sort of person, while I am not!).

I had a look on the National Rail website and it didn’t seem possible to book tickets for the 27th, so it might have to change his plans anyway.

I think it varies massively between train companies and travel times.
I managed to get to work although it took longer than usual, the train was quiet. Could not get home! Tried train/taxi with no luck and eventually had to stay overnight. Unfortunately, DD missed the bus and my DS had to get in a ta I to collect her. Not fun.

One point I’d lie to make is about woman’s safety on trains.
Isn’t part of the dispute about cutting jobs and having unmanned stations?
I don’t feel comfortable about having woman in particular travelling on trains and getting off at stations with no staff around.
Surely at some point costs shouldn’t compromise safety?

If you are talking about unmanned stations, that ship has sailed. Even those stations that are staffed other than large ones only have staff for a small part of the day.