Birmingham: When are the rail strikes in December, how will the strikes affect Christmas travel?

As Christmas approaches, so do travelling plans for the festive season. But as on previous weekends throughout the year, the holidays will see rail strikes that will affect service in Birmingham and West Midlands.

The RMT hhas announced that they will walk out on 48-hour industrial action on four dates in December, including over Christmas. This means that travel on these dates and the days following will be heavily impacted.

Industrial action will take place on December 13-14, 16-17 and from December 24 to 27. Anyone planning to travel by train have therefore been advised to arrange their travel plans well in advance as there will be limited or no service in and around Birmingham on those dates as well as disruption on surrounding dates.

Here are all the services in Birmingham and West Midlands that will see disruption on the dates leading up to and over Christmas due to the industrial action.

Monday December 12 - Saturday December 17 2022

While industrial action doesn’t start until Tuesday December 13, knock-on effects are likely to alter services on the evening of Monday December 12.

Tuesday 13, Wednesday 14, Friday 16 and Saturday 17 December will see a very limited service, with the few train services running only in operation between 7.00am and 7.00pm. During these four dates, the following services will be in operation for 12 hours:

• Lichfield Trent Valley – Birmingham New Street – Redditch / Bromsgrove
• Birmingham New Street – Wolverhampton – Crewe
• Birmingham New Street – Wolverhampton (via local stations)
• Birmingham New Street – Northampton – London Euston

West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway services will not operate on any other routes on the four days of industrial action. It is advised that you only travel if absolutely necessary during these dates.

Services on Thursday December 15 will start later than usual due to the knock-on effect of industrial action. Morning services may be very busy on some routes.

Journey planners for Monday December 12 to Saturday December 17 will be up to date with the latest service times from Friday 9 December 2022.

Sunday December 18 - Tuesday December 27

West Midlands Railway have not updated their details for these dates as of yet. It is however expected that the industrial action will have a major impact on services on these dates and on surrounding dates, with limited or no service at all during the strike dates.