West Midlands Trains Industrial Action July/August 2026

[Speed Whiskers]

The previous quote did mention Avanti ticket acceptance. You'd still be perfectly entitled to rely on that as it was published.

One of the many ridiculous anti-passenger notions circulating in the industry is that you can withdraw published ticket acceptance and thereby pretend it never existed.

The first time I viewed the industrial action page (post #115), the dates mentioned were for the previous strike so I wonder if an old version had been uploaded and has now been corrected.

 

[kje7812]

WMR wise we have:

Friday 31 July 2026

A limited service will be in operation on the following routes only:

• Cross City Line (Lichfield - Redditch/Bromsgrove via Birmingham New Street) – 4 trains per hour
• Wolverhampton - Walsall via Birmingham New Street – 2 trains per hour
• Rugeley Trent Valley – Birmingham International via Birmingham New Street - 2 trains per hour

No trains will run past 7pm, with final departures significantly earlier as follows:

• Birmingham New Street - Lichfield Trent Valley - Final Departure 16.36
• Lichfield Trent Valley - Birmingham New Street - Final Departure 17.38
• Birmingham New Street - Four Oaks - Final Departure 17.46
• Birmingham New Street - Redditch - Final Departure 16.15
• Redditch - Birmingham New Street - Final Departure 17.01
• Birmingham New Street - Bromsgrove - Final Departure 16.53
• Bromsgrove - Birmingham New Street - Final Departure 17.29
• Birmingham New Street - Walsall - Final Departure 17.30
• Walsall - Birmingham New Street - Final Departure 18.21
• Birmingham New Street - Wolverhampton - Final Departure 18.11
• Wolverhampton - Birmingham New Street - Final Departure 18.28
• Birmingham New Street - Rugeley Trent Valley - Final Departure 16.15
• Rugeley Trent Valley - Birmingham New Street - Final Departure 16.50
• Birmingham New Street - Hednesford - Final Departure 17.15
• Hednesford - Birmingham New Street - Final Departure 18.02
• Birmingham New Street - Birmingham International - Final Departure 18.06
• Birmingham International - Birmingham New Street - Final Departure 18.04

The following routes will have no service on Friday 31 July:

• All routes via Birmingham Snow Hill
• Camp Hill Line
• Nuneaton - Leamington Spa
• Birmingham New Street - Hereford
• Birmingham New Street - Shrewsbury

Saturday 1 August 2026

A limited service will run on the following routes only:

• Cross City Line (Lichfield - Redditch/Bromsgrove via Birmingham New Street) – 4 trains per hour
• Wolverhampton - Walsall via Birmingham New Street – 2 trains per hour
• Rugeley Trent Valley – Birmingham International via Birmingham New Street - 2 trains per hour

Services will start later than usual from 7am. Early morning services will not run.

The following routes will have no service on Saturday 1 August:

• All routes via Birmingham Snow Hill
• Camp Hill Line
• Nuneaton - Leamington Spa
• Birmingham New Street - Hereford
• Birmingham New Street - Shrewsbury

Looks like I won't be going into Brum for the cinema then.

 

[Vince C]

It's a brave strategy; Cotton.
GBR are cutting services.
Avanti instructed to cut off-peak services.
Bromsgrove has lost half its Sunday Cross City services.
Seemingly the movement is in a downward direction.

How many people might ultimately be shown a P45, rather than a pay rise.

This is what you get with DfT running the railway.
Richard Bowker, who once headed up the SRA and was one of Richard Branson's senior managers at Virgin West Coast made an interesting comment on the excellent 'Green Signals' podcast, about DfT telling Avanti to reduce services on the West Coast Main Line 'to save costs'.

Richard said “that does sound very ‘public sector’. If I had gone into Richard Branson’s office back in the day and said “Richard, the trains are a bit underused in the summer so we’re thinking of cutting the number of services” it would have been a very short conversation. He’d have said “go away and come back here in an hour with list of ideas for filling the empty seats on those trains”.

That says it all for me. To be successful, you need to grow, not cut back. No-one ever ‘cut their way to success’. Privatisation done well (as it was in the case of Virgin) can bring tremendous entrepreaurial advantages that the dull mind of the civil servant will not.

 

[whoosh]

This is what you get with DfT running the railway.
Richard Bowker, who once headed up the SRA and was one of Richard Branson's senior managers at Virgin West Coast made an interesting comment on the excellent 'Green Signals' podcast, about DfT telling Avanti to reduce services on the West Coast Main Line 'to save costs'.

Richard said “that does sound very ‘public sector’. If I had gone into Richard Branson’s office back in the day and said “Richard, the trains are a bit underused in the summer so we’re thinking of cutting the number of services” it would have been a very short conversation. He’d have said “go away and come back here in an hour with list of ideas for filling the empty seats on those trains”.

That says it all for me. To be successful, you need to grow, not cut back. No-one ever ‘cut their way to success’. Privatisation done well (as it was in the case of Virgin) can bring tremendous entrepreaurial advantages that the dull mind of the civil servant will not.

In some ways I agree with you.

I think you are missing a key piece though. School holidays don't just affect passenger demand. They affect staff availability, both with annual leave quotas more likely to be fully used, and less staff making themselves available for overtime.

In other words, when a time of lower customer numbers also happens to coincide with a popular period for annual leave allocations being full, then there does seem sense in asking, "Why are we struggling to cover all the duties, including heavy use of overtime, to carry less people? We could slim down the service, still carry all the people, and not have the resource headaches."



That doesn't seem unreasonable as something to explore, particularly if more resilience during the period can be achieved.The level of cuts can reach a stage where they are unreasonable, so there does need to be a balance.

 

[rdevz]

Even if there were not, you should not refund your original ticket or buy a new ticket, as WMT would be obliged to make arrangements for you to still be able to travel.

Should they fail to do so, every other operator in a position to assist you (i.e. Avanti, XC and TfW who are still running services) would be obliged to help you reach your destination under condition 28.2 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel. In practice that would require them to accept your ticket.

The problem then arises that WMT have form for ignoring their obligations under NRCoT during strike action. I’ve been informed (incorrectly in my opinion) by their customer services team that 28.2 doesn’t apply during industrial action, as it’s intended to cause disruption.

Complaints about this and refund requests for the costs subsequently incurred seem to go unanswered - I’ve got one from a couple of months ago that just hit the 50 working days mark, which I’m going to have to muster up the effort to kick upstairs to the ombudsman at some point.

 

[Watershed]

The problem then arises that WMT have form for ignoring their obligations under NRCoT during strike action. I’ve been informed (incorrectly in my opinion) by their customer services team that 28.2 doesn’t apply during industrial action, as it’s intended to cause disruption.

Complaints about this and refund requests for the costs subsequently incurred seem to go unanswered - I’ve got one from a couple of months ago that just hit the 50 working days mark, which I’m going to have to muster up the effort to kick upstairs to the ombudsman at some point.

Yes, unfortunately that is the issue with recalcitrant TOCs that believe they can ignore the contract and the law. They will get away with it unless you escalate it.

 

[befated]

On the 31st I'm going to be travelling from Liverpool Lime Street to Leamington Spa, using a WMT only Off Peak Day Single (bought in the recent sale). What's going to be the easiest way to do this journey without either ending up out of pocket or having to plead with staff to let me on trains? I'm not sure what time of day I'll want to travel (I did buy a walkup after all) - I'll ensure I get to Lime St before the last LNR to Birmingham (17.10) if that would make it less hassle, but that still leaves the Birmingham - Leamington section.

 

[800002]

On the 31st I'm going to be travelling from Liverpool Lime Street to Leamington Spa, using a WMT only Off Peak Day Single (bought in the recent sale). What's going to be the easiest way to do this journey without either ending up out of pocket or having to plead with staff to let me on trains? I'm not sure what time of day I'll want to travel (I did buy a walkup after all) - I'll ensure I get to Lime St before the last LNR to Birmingham (17.10) if that would make it less hassle, but that still leaves the Birmingham - Leamington section.

There will be no WMT services at Leamington Spa.
I don't know if either of your desires are achievable.

Chiltern will if course be running between Moor Street and Leamington.
XC will be running between New Street / International / Coventry and Leamington.

If there is ticket acceptance on either of the above that will satisfy the first desire.

 

[gembercannelle]

On July 10 I travelled from Penrith to Kenilworth on Advance single that was bought in early June. Penrith to Coventry was Avanti, that run 28 or so minutes late. Coventry to Kenilworth was WMR, that was cancelled due to the industrial action (all services on that line were cancelled). Delay Repay was submitted to WMR. A fortnight later I got an email from them saying they are sending the claim to Avanti, because it was their train that caused delay. I am getting a bucket of popcorn...

 

[VT 390]

On July 10 I travelled from Penrith to Kenilworth on Advance single that was bought in early June. Penrith to Coventry was Avanti, that run 28 or so minutes late. Coventry to Kenilworth was WMR, that was cancelled due to the industrial action (all services on that line were cancelled). Delay Repay was submitted to WMR. A fortnight later I got an email from them saying they are sending the claim to Avanti, because it was their train that caused delay. I am getting a bucket of popcorn...

If the WMR strike had not gone ahead it would be Avanti responsible for delay repay as in most hours a 28 minute delay on the direct Penrith North Lakes to Coventry service would cause the Kenilworth connection to be missed.

This may complicate your claim further on top of the issues with claiming delay repay for strike cancelled services as while your connecting service was not running due to the strike it would have been missed had the strike not happened and Avanti would be responsible for any delay repay.

 

[gembercannelle]

If the WMR strike had not gone ahead it would be Avanti responsible for delay repay as in most hours a 28 minute delay on the direct Penrith North Lakes to Coventry service would cause the Kenilworth connection to be missed.
This may complicate your claim further on top of the issues with claiming delay repay for strike cancelled services as while your connecting service was not running due to the strike it would have been missed had the strike not happened and Avanti would be responsible for any delay repay.

Yes, indeed, I have missed the intended connection at Coventry and was advised by a member of gateline staff to take a bus. I eventually arrived to KNW 1 hour and 10 minutes late. (The bus was also delayed...)

 

[Watershed]

On the 31st I'm going to be travelling from Liverpool Lime Street to Leamington Spa, using a WMT only Off Peak Day Single (bought in the recent sale). What's going to be the easiest way to do this journey without either ending up out of pocket or having to plead with staff to let me on trains? I'm not sure what time of day I'll want to travel (I did buy a walkup after all) - I'll ensure I get to Lime St before the last LNR to Birmingham (17.10) if that would make it less hassle, but that still leaves the Birmingham - Leamington section.

The least hassle is to get a refund and buy a new interavailable ticket but that is certainly not the cheapest option!

You are still entitled to be transported to your destination by WMT; any other TOCs that can assist you in doing so (e.g. by accepting your ticket) must do so if you would be stranded otherwise.

If you are wrongly told you need to buy a new ticket, I would suggest doing so under protest and then claiming it back afterwards.

 

[officewalla]

Once they are cut, the services will not be coming back!

In some ways I agree with you.

I think you are missing a key piece though. School holidays don't just affect passenger demand. They affect staff availability, both with annual leave quotas more likely to be fully used, and less staff making themselves available for overtime.

In other words, when a time of lower customer numbers also happens to coincide with a popular period for annual leave allocations being full, then there does seem sense in asking, "Why are we struggling to cover all the duties, including heavy use of overtime, to carry less people? We could slim down the service, still carry all the people, and not have the resource headaches."



That doesn't seem unreasonable as something to explore, particularly if more resilience during the period can be achieved.The level of cuts can reach a stage where they are unreasonable, so there does need to be a bal

 

[kje7812]

Strikes off this weekend as per WMR website.

Strike action by members of the TSSA union which had been due to take place on Friday 31 July and Saturday 1 August has been suspended. A normal timetable will run on all West Midlands Railway routes on both dates. No industrial action is currently taking place on the WMR network.

 

[trainophile]

Strikes off this weekend as per WMR website.

Good news, again. Shame that some of us have made other arrangements. At a cost.

I hope they’re not going to be doing this all summer.

 

[DaventryRabbit]

Good news, again. Shame that some of us have made other arrangements. At a cost.

I hope they’re not going to be doing this all summer.

Good news indeed. I did make emergency arrangements but a few taps of an app and they were cancelled and it's back to the original plan...

 

[trainophile]

Is this resolved now? Is it safe to make plans?

 

[gembercannelle]

If the WMR strike had not gone ahead it would be Avanti responsible for delay repay as in most hours a 28 minute delay on the direct Penrith North Lakes to Coventry service would cause the Kenilworth connection to be missed.

This may complicate your claim further on top of the issues with claiming delay repay for strike cancelled services as while your connecting service was not running due to the strike it would have been missed had the strike not happened and Avanti would be responsible for any delay repay.

A quick update: Avanti issued a rail voucher corresponding to 120+ min delay...

 

[Starmill]

Is this resolved now? Is it safe to make plans?

I haven't heard anything particularly positive but perhaps it is. Does anyone know more or is it just a waiting game?

 

[Watershed]

A quick update: Avanti issued a rail voucher corresponding to 120+ min delay...

Are you happy to accept a voucher or do you want it paid out in cash?

 

[gembercannelle]

Are you happy to accept a voucher or do you want it paid out in cash?

I asked for a voucher. I travel often so it will inevitably be used and I believe it is better this way.

 

[Ibex]

I haven't heard anything particularly positive but perhaps it is. Does anyone know more or is it just a waiting game?

The company have made an offer; TSSA have put it out to members in a referendum which closes on 24th August.

 

[Starmill]

The company have made an offer; TSSA have put it out to members in a referendum which closes on 24th August.

Splendid that sounds a lot more promising! Thank you.