Transport for Wales advising people to avoid train travel in Wales ‘unless it is absolutely necessary’

Rail workers will begin industrial action this afternoon, Saturday 24 December.

Transport for Wales (TfW) is advising people to avoid train travel in Wales unless it is absolutely necessary.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) have announced strike action will take place on 24-27 December, which will significantly disrupt the rail network across the whole of Wales, England and Scotland.

TfW is not involved in the industrial action. However, the industrial action resulting from the dispute between the unions and Network Rail means TfW will be unable to operate rail services on Network Rail infrastructure.

Other operators’ services will also be impacted by the industrial action.

TfW is advising customers to only make essential journeys on Christmas Eve, and to aim to finish their journeys by midday as services will wind down in the afternoon ahead of the start of industrial action in the evening.

TfW services will not be running on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, resuming on 27 December – services on some routes will start later than usual that day due to the strike action. Core Valley Lines services will also not be running on New Year’s Day.

The RAC is warning the rail strikes will lead to more cars on the roads with traffic volumes likely to be “far greater causing jams in and around cities and at key pinch-points on major roads.”

Transport analytics specialists INRIX expects travel times to be around 14% longer compared to the same period last year with stretches of the M60 near Manchester, M6 in the north-west.

Christmas Day itself is also expected to see a lot of people on the move, with an estimated 3.6m leisure journeys by car taken, with a further 3.3m on Boxing Day and an extra 1.4m trips across both days – but with no commuter traffic on the roads, overall traffic volumes are should be lower, meaning serious delays are less likely.