'Essential travel only' - Commuters between Birmingham and Shrewsbury advised amid strike action and heatwave
Transport for Wales says strikes on another operator and the heat will mean their rail replacement buses will be busy.
Transport for Wales (TfW) is advising passengers to only make essential journeys between Shrewsbury and Birmingham this weekend due to strike action at another operator reducing services on the route.
Planned industrial action by members of the TSSA trade union at West Midlands Railway today and Saturday means no WMR services will run between Shrewsbury and Birmingham.
Some disruption to WMR services is also expected on the morning of Sunday July due to the displacement of trains.
TfW said their rail and bus replacement services between the two destinations and onwards towards mid Wales and the west Wales coast are expected to be extremely busy throughout the weekend.
Sarah Higgins, Operations Director at Transport for Wales, said: “With a reduced number of services running this weekend and predicted temperatures above 30 degrees which is likely to cause further disruption, we are advising customers to only travel if their journeys are essential between Shrewsbury and Birmingham and to expect warm and busy services between Shrewsbury,
“Aberystwyth and Pwllheli.“Anyone who has purchased a ticket for a TfW service on Friday or Saturday will be able to use that ticket to travel up to and including Tuesday, July 14.
“For those making journeys we are strongly encouraging everyone to allow extra time for their journey, to wear appropriate clothing, bring water and sunscreen and not to board a service if feeing unwell before travelling.”
Additionally on Saturday and Sunday, no trains will run between Newport and Shrewsbury due to essential Network Rail engineering work, with rail replacement services operating on this route.
The request comes as further disruption was experienced on Friday when Birmingham New Street was evacuated due to a fire on a train.
The incident was resolved before 8am but National Rail said disruption was expected throughout the morning.