Rail strikes: Dates for Christmas and January train disruption and all the lines affected

Train passengers face disruption across the festive period with railway workers set to stage a series of strikes in the long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.

More than 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) across Network Rail and 14 train operating companies will strike.

The dates are:

13th December

14th December

16th December

17th December

24th December

25th December

26th December

3rd January

4th January

6th January

7th January

There will also be an overtime ban across the railways from 18 December until 2 January, which means RMT will be taking industrial action across four weeks.

Many operators are still assessing the potential impact of the industrial action and will then provide more details to passengers.

It comes after a long period of action and as some operators, such as West Midlands Railway and Southeastern, prepare to introduce "easier to understand" timetables on 11 December, with some significant changes for some routes.

Which operators have given updates on the December and January strikes?

Not all train companies have provided information on how their services will be affected, but these are the ones that have:

Great Western Railway

GWR has warned its passengers to only travel by train if "absolutely necessary". A reduced timetable will be in operation and many routes will have no services at all. Travellers should expect any trains which are able to run to be "extremely busy". More details about the impact of the festive strikes "will be provided in due course".

Passengers have also been advised to find an alternative route of travel and only travel by train, "where services are running."

Avanti West Coast

The company is still assessing how the December and January strike action will impact its services and will have "more information for you soon". They are also continuing to work on revised timetables for the strike rates and will update their website accordingly in due course.

East Midlands Railway

EMR has said it is "working on updating" its timetables and that customers should continue to check their page for more details.

LNER

London North Eastern Railway has said they have removed tickets from sale for the listed strike action dates until their timetable has been confirmed.

Greater Anglia

The operator warns passengers should "avoid travelling with us" on strike days and urges people to check for updates before travelling.

Cross Country Trains

Cross Country Trains has confirmed that its services will be impacted over the festive period due to the planned strike action by RMT.

The train operator added: "customers are strongly advised to alter their plans and where possible avoid travel on a strike day".

South Western

The train operator said it is working with Network Rail to agree a reduced timetable - but warned customers to expect severe disruption on 13th and 14th and 16th and 17th December - with large parts of the network closed.

There will also be later starts on the days before and after the industrial action. They have also warned first trains "will be much later than usual and be very busy - please avoid these if you can".

West Midlands Railway

The RMT industrial action is expected to have a "significant impact" on services, with amended timetables in operation and some routes not served at all.

The days before and after strikes could also be impacted, although timetables have yet to be confirmed.

Northern

Passengers have been advised not to travel and more updates will be available on the site

GTR (including Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express)

Thameslink, Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Southern, all part of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), all said they are "working with the wider rail industry" to determine how services will be hit - but warned the network will be "severely reduced" on strike days, with surrounding days also likely to be affected.

Southeastern

More information about the strike action in December and January "will be published as soon as possible".

c2c

The operator is still waiting for confirmation on how plans will be impacted.

Transpennine Express

The operator says on its website "a very limited service will be running on some lines" but that it was " advising customers to only travel during the strike action if journeys are essential".

It also expects travel to be disrupted the day after strike action and people should check for further updates.

They also added: "If you have booked a ticket for a strike day, we will be updating your ticket's validity so that you can use it at another time."

Further details are to be announced on their website.

Chiltern Railways

It states on its website that "once more information is known", it will provide an update.

Eurostar

Travellers hoping to use the Eurostar are also facing disruption during the festive period.

Members of the RMT union will walk out on 16, 18, 22 and 23 December in a dispute over pay.

The strike will severely hit Eurostar services for travellers, the union said.

Further updates on services are expected to be provided later.