The RMT union has announced strike action affecting Avanti West Coast on Sundays from 12 January to 25 May 2025. On these dates, our timetables and operating hours will be significantly reduced and trains that do run are expected to be busy.
We recommend you travel on days either side of Sunday 9 February due to the limited service we’re able to run during the combination of strike action and major engineering work. Football fixtures and engineering work will also affect journeys across the rail network on this date.
If you booked tickets to travel with Avanti West Coast on a strike day before the industrial action was announced on 17 December, you can now use them to travel on alternative travel dates. Alternatively, if you no longer wish to travel due to the strike action, you can claim a full refund of your prebooked tickets from where you bought them. Find out more below.
To minimise the number of people disrupted, we suspend ticket sales for strike days as soon as they're announced. We expect online journey planners to correctly show our amended strike timetable and our tickets to go back on sale by the Monday before the Sunday strike action. Find the next few expected dates below.
- Sunday 9 February's strike timetable is now available to view in online journey planners and tickets are back on sale.
- Sunday 16 February’s strike timetable is expected to be published by the afternoon of Monday 10 February.
- Sunday 23 February’s strike timetable is expected to be published by the afternoon of Monday 17 February.
- Sunday 2 March's strike timetable is expected to be published by the afternoon of Monday 24 February.
- Sunday 9 March’s strike timetable is expected to be published by the afternoon of Monday 3 March.
For Sunday strike dates further into the future, we’ll let you know your ticket options, travel advice and timetable information as soon as possible. Please continue to check our website for updates. We’re disappointed with this industrial action, and we are sorry for the inconvenience it will cause.
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Strike action on 12 January, 19 January and 2 February has now concluded. If your journey was affected on these strike dates, find your ticket options below.
Strike day timetables
To minimise the number of people disrupted, we suspend ticket sales for strike days as soon as they're announced. We expect online journey planners to correctly show our amended strike timetable and our tickets to go back on sale by the Monday before the Sunday strike action. Find the next few expected dates below.
- Sunday 9 February's strike timetable is now available to view in online journey planners and tickets are back on sale.
- Sunday 16 February’s strike timetable is expected to be published by the afternoon of Monday 10 February.
- Sunday 23 February’s strike timetable is expected to be published by the afternoon of Monday 17 February.
- Sunday 2 March's strike timetable is expected to be published by the afternoon of Monday 24 February.
- Sunday 9 March’s strike timetable is expected to be published by the afternoon of Monday 3 March.
During the strike action on 9 February, the timetable will be significantly reduced due to the impact of engineering work on top of industrial action. To and from London Euston, we plan to run one train per hour to Birmingham and Manchester, plus one train every other hour to Liverpool and Glasgow.
Trains will run during limited hours, with the first train of the day departing Euston just after 8am and the last train of the day from Euston departing around 5pm.
The significantly reduced timetable on 9 February means North Wales, Blackpool and Edinburgh have no Avanti West Coast services.
First and last trains
During this strike action, our trains are running less frequently and only during limited hours. The first and last direct trains to and from our key destinations are listed below. If your destination isn't listed, just pop your journey details into our journey planner and click 'See earlier/later trains'.
Engineering work
Network Rail carry out regular maintenance work on the West Coast Main Line on weekends and bank holidays. Find out more here and use our online journey planner to find the quickest way from A to B during engineering work.
On Sunday 9 February, journeys will take longer while Network Rail improve the Trent Valley line between Rugby and Stafford. Our trains will go via the West Midlands, adding around 45 minutes to usual journey times. Trains will be busy due to fewer trains running and not all journeys will be direct. Use our online journey planner to find the quickest way from A to B during this engineering work.
