East Midlands Railway issues bank holiday strike warning

East Midlands Railway has told passengers in Derby and Nottingham to brace for disruption on services to London this weekend, after rail unions approved fresh strike action over safety concerns.

EMR has advised passengers to travel only if absolutely necessary, and has warned passengers at Nottingham and Derby that they may have to queue to board, while a reduced timetable of “extremely busy” trains may be standing room only.

Last week, RMT confirmed its members would be taking action as part of a long-running dispute over safety and reliability concerns on EMR’s fleet of Class 810 train units, with a 48-hour walkout set to begin on 30 August.

Both Nottingham and Derby will see services to St Pancras reduced to one per hour on Sunday, 30 August and Monday, 31 August, with services set to end at 7pm.

The issue will be compounded by the cancellation of LNER services between London King’s Cross and Peterborough due to scheduled signalling upgrades on the East Coast Main Line.

“EMR recognises the significant disruption this will cause to customers’ plans over the August Bank Holiday and understands how frustrating this news will be for its customers, particularly following the three Saturdays targeted by RMT strikes earlier this month,” said a spokesperson for EMR.

“EMR continues to have constructive discussions with the RMT and has met with the union six times as it works towards resolving the issues at the heart of this dispute. At the same time, EMR is working closely with Hitachi Rail to ensure that concerns are being properly addressed.”

In a statement issued last week, RMT said it had advised members to refuse to work on the new Class 810 “Aurora” trains over ongoing issues with air-conditioning, doors and non-working toilets.

The units have been plagued with problems since coming into service last December, three years behind schedule, which EMR said earlier this year had “significantly impacted” its ability to run a reliable intercity service between the East Midlands and the capital.

“RMT is demanding that whilst these faults exist and until these trains are shown to be operating properly, they should be taken out of service,” said RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey.

“It is now time for EMR management to act on the safety concerns of our members,” he said.

EMR says it’s assessing the impact of further action planned for September.