RMT Strike June 2022: Will protest affect people in Manchester, what are the dates and why is it happening?

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) confirmed on 7 June that three days of strike action would take place across the UK.

Train companies and services across the country will be affected, including many in and out of Manchester.

The strike action is set to fall when events are taking place in and around Manchester.

Transport to and from these events is likely to be heavily impacted due to the rail strikes, so if you are planning on getting the train it is best to plan your journey well in advance.

Here’s what we know about which train companies that operate through Manchester will be affected, when the strikes are planned, and how to keep an eye out for contingency timetables.

When is the strike action?

RMT announced that the three days of planned strike action are set to be Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June.

Over 50,000 railway workers will walkout as part of three  days of national strike action later this month, in the biggest dispute on the network since 1989.

Why is RMT going on strike?

Members of the RMT union have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action to assure higher wages, job security, and no compulsory redundancies.

Which train companies are affected by the strike?

A total of 13 train companies will have staff on strike on the planned days of action, and several of these operate services through Manchester train stations.

These include Northern, CrossCountry, and Avanti West Coast.

The full breakdown of affected routes can be found in this related ManchesterWorld article.

Within the article is also more details on some of the routes in and out of Manchester that are set to be affected by the strike, and also how to view the route map of each of the train companies.

The full list of the train companies due to be impacted by the strike action is listed below:

• Network Rail
• Chiltern Railways,
• Cross Country Trains,
• Greater Anglia,
• LNER,
• East Midlands Railway,
• c2c,
• Great Western Railway,
• Northern Trains,
• South Eastern
• South Western Railway
• Transpennine Express,
• Avanti West Coast,
• West Midlands Trains

Will there be strike timetables?

Those train companies that will have large numbers of staff on strike have announced that a reduced timetable will be in effect for the days of the strike action.

Avanti West Coast, which operates services from Manchester through to Birmingham and London, issued a statement on Twitter earlier today (8 June).

A spokesperson said: “The RMT union has announced strike action on Tuesday 21 June, Thursday 23 June and Saturday 25 June.

“This action is coordinated across other train companies and Network Rail. Customers should expect our existing timetable to be reduced significantly on those days.

“Those services that do run will be very busy. The days on either side of industrial action are also likely to be affected. We will announce a revised timetable as soon as possible.”