'Do not travel' warning as East Midlands Railway services again hit by strikes

East Midlands Railway is urging customers not to travel unless absolutely necessary, as staff walk out for yet more strike action.

RMT union members will be out on Saturday (August 15) in a dispute over safety at the beleaguered rail operator.

The union claims the new Class 810 fleet has experienced a number of problems since entering passenger service, including issues accessing emergency equipment, faulty doors, air conditioning leaks and faults which have forced trains to be switched off and restarted.

East Midlands Railway has already been forced to cut back its level of service, but denies that its trains are unsafe.

Today will see a further reduced timetable between 7am and 7pm, with first class seats scrapped.

One train per hour will operate between Sheffield and London St Pancras.

Philippa Cresswell, Customer Experience Director at East Midlands Railway, said: "We're sorry to customers whose journeys will be affected by this industrial action.

"We know the disruption this will cause and are advising customers to only travel if their journey is essential on Saturday, 15 August, as we will be operating a significantly reduced timetable starting at 07:00 and finishing before 19:00.

"To help as many customers as possible during this period, we will temporarily declassify First Class on our Intercity services so that everyone can make use of the full seating capacity available.

"This is a temporary measure for the duration of the strike timetable only, after which our usual First Class arrangements will resume."

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