Rail and Bus strikes to bring Birmingham transport on standstill on this day

Both Rail and Bus strikes will bring public transport to a halt on a particular day this month.

National Express West Midlands announced that 3,000 bus drivers have voted overwhelmingly to strike. They will be joined by over 200 National Express engineers as well.

Unite the Union announced that the Bus strike will go ahead on March 16.

Meanwhile, West Midlands Railways announced that on March 16 RMT union will also be taking part in industrial action. Network Rail industrial action is also taking place on the same day.

Thursday 16 March 2023

What West Midlands Railways said

A limited timetable will be in operation across the rail network on Thursday 16 March 2023. During this time, fewer services will be running, and some routes will not be served. This industrial action will also impact other operators, and services that are running may be very busy on some routes.

As a result of the above you’re advised to only travel if necessary during this time.

A limited timetable will be in operation between the hours of 0700 – 1900 only on the following routes:

• Lichfield Trent Valley – Birmingham New Street – Redditch / Bromsgrove (2 trains per hour)
• Birmingham New Street – Northampton via Coventry (1 train per hour)
• Northampton – London Euston (2 trains per hour)
• Birmingham New Street – Wolverhampton via local stations (1 train per hour)
• Birmingham New Street – Crewe (1 train per hour)

West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway services will not operate on any other route during this time.

What National Express West Midlands said

They have been advised that some of their teams will be going on strike from 16th March.

The bus service’s team said: “We anticipate that there will be a limited network running from this date. We are striving to protect essential public services.

“We are sorry for the significant disruption this will cause and we want to reassure you that we are doing all we can to minimise the impact on our customers. We are continuing to talk to the union and we’ll post all updates here and on social media channels as soon as we have them.”