We are again pelased to be able to bring you a full update into the happenings for the next strike due to take place on the 13th and 14th August on NXEA services.

As a result of industrial action by National Express East Anglia (NXEA) members of the ASLEF and RMT unions, most NXEA services will not run on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 August. A number of Saturday services will also be affected.
First Capital Connect and NXEA will be accepting NXEA advance booked tickets and period return tickets Standard/First Open Return, Saver Return) for reasonable routes up to one day either side of the strike days (i.e. on Wednesday 12 August and Saturday 15 August). However, please note there will be no acceptance of cross-London tickets on London Underground on other days for people who could not usethem on the strike days.

First Capital Connect is planning to operate a normal service during the days of the strike, however there may be some short notice alterations, cancellations and/or short-formed services due to train stabling arrangements at Cambridge.

NXEA management staff will be on duty in customer service and operational roles at Ely and Cambridge to allow services to operate from these stations.

Additional FCC service: The 06:54 FCC Ely to King’s Cross service will start from King’s Lynn at 06:22, calling additionally at Downham Market at 06:33 before arriving to Ely and continuing at the normal time to King’s Cross.

Overview of NXEA services on affected days
A limited train service will operate between:

• € Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street
• € Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street
• € Norwich and Colchester and London Liverpool Street

In addition to the first week’s arrangements, there will be:

• €Some extra services between London Liverpool Street and Broxbourne€
• 3 additional trains during the day to / from Colchester to / from Norwich connecting into the services from London
• 1 morning peak train (07:04) from Cambridge to London Liverpool Street
• 1 evening peak train (17:26) from London Liverpool Street to Cambridge

What NXEA is advising customers

• €Customers are free to travel on these limited NXEA services, but should consider staggering their journeys as the  services will be very busy
• Customers travel at their own risk – NXEA accepts no liability in regard to consequential costs (i.e. taxi/hotel bills).
• Any seat reservations on NXEA services on either of the strike days can no longer be guaranteed.
• NXEA aims to run these services to the maximum number of carriages, however there is likely services will be extremely busy.
• Customers are strongly recommended to spread their journey times.

Additional bus services

Buses will run on both days from Liverpool Street to/from Harwich International direct as outlined below. Priority will be given to customers with ticket reservations for the Stena Line Ferry.

• € Depart Liverpool Street 06:25 Arrive Harwich International 08:10
• € Depart Liverpool Street 20:38 Arrive Harwich International 22:23
• € Depart Harwich International 07:10 Arrive Liverpool Street 08:55
• € Depart Harwich International 20:40 Arrive Liverpool Street 22:25

Ticketing arrangements and ticket acceptance

Selling tickets for NXEA journeys on the day(s) of the strike should be limited to those customers whose journeys are absolutely necessary (i.e. to connect with flights). All NXEA restrictions on tickets will be lifted for the dates of the strike.

Station and Revenue Protection staff are requested to endorse all tickets that are used by customers on the days of the strike with ‘Strike Advised’ to minimise fraudulent refund claims.

Ticket acceptance:

Where applicable, customers may travel on other TOC services with their NXEA / usual ticket where a reasonable alternative route exists.

This includes:
From parts of Essex:
• NXEA tickets are valid on c2c services from Southend to London.
• NXEA car park Season tickets will be valid at c2c stations on a first come, first served basis.
From parts of Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire:
• NXEA tickets are valid on First Capital Connect services between King’s Lynn, Ely and Cambridge to London.
• East Midlands Trains services from Norwich to Ely. London Tickets from NXEA stations that are North, East or West of Cambridge and Ely are valid to King’s Cross on FCC services.
• Cross Country services from Ely and Cambridge to Stansted Airport.

London buses and London Underground will be accepting Travelcards and season tickets only; other passengers should buy appropriate bus or Underground tickets or use Oyster pay as you go.

In addition to these arrangements:
• Tickets with a starting point or destination as ‘Hertford Stations’ or ‘Enfield stations’ are valid on FCC services as a reasonable route.
• Travelcards are valid as long as the journeys made are within the zones on the ticket.
• Point-to-point season tickets and daily tickets that are not within the areas listed above are not valid on FCC services. An example would be a customer who holds a season ticket from Whittlesford to Tottenham Hale. This ticket would not be valid from Royston to Finsbury Park.
• Passengers should be advised to purchase an FCC ticket for the journey being made and claim a strike day refund on their ticket from NXEA.
• NXEA parking permits will not be accepted in FCC car parks. NXEA passengers must purchase a car parking ticket and be advised to claim a refund on their NXEA parking permit from NXEA.

Important note:

NXEA-dedicated tickets will be accepted NXEA will not be selling NXEA-dedicated tickets for/on the days of the strike. However, some may have been sold before the strike was announced. These tickets should be accepted.

Refund arrangements

FCC will deal with applications for refunds in the normal way, though additionally we should offer refunds for any NXEA Advance tickets valid for the strike days. Note this means an admin fee should be charged. However NXEA are advising that they will waive the refund admin fee for up to a week following the strike, so you can advise customers that they may wish to go to NXEA directly to claim a refund.
NXEA customers whose season tickets are not accepted on FCC services should be advised to purchase the ticket required to make the FCC journey and claim a “strike day” refund through their normal NXEA station.

Additional pre-advised NXEA service alterations

The Industrial Action will also affect some services on Wednesday 12 August and Saturday 15 August.

Wednesday 12 August
18:43 Lowestoft to Liverpool Street service will terminate Colchester at 20:48.
19:46 Peterborough to Liverpool Street service will terminate Colchester at 21:48.

Thursday 13 August
Please note; 06:05 Cambridge to Norwich service will run on Thursday ONLY.

Saturday 15 August
06:38 Liverpool Street to Peterborough service starts from Colchester at 07:38.
06:58 Liverpool to Ely starts from Cambridge at 08:20.
07:38 Liverpool Street to Lowestoft service starts from Colchester at 08:38.

The following Saturday services have been CANCELLED:

05:30 Norwich to Sheringham
06:22 Sheringham to Norwich
05:36 Norwich to Great Yarmouth
06:17 Great Yarmouth to Norwich
06:08 Cambridge to Norwich
06:27 Ipswich to Felixstowe
06:56 Felixstowe to Ipswich
05:58 Liverpool Street to Cambridge
06:28 Liverpool Street to Cambridge
04:25 Cambridge to Liverpool Street
05:21 Cambridge to Liverpool Street
04:10 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
04:40 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
05:10 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
05:25 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
05:55 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
06:55 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
05:30 Stansted Airport to Liverpool Street
05:15 Bishops Stortford to Liverpool Street
05:30 Bishops Stortford to Stansted Airport
05:42 Liverpool Street to Hertford East
06:09 Hertford East to Liverpool Street
05:15 Liverpool Street to Cheshunt
05:45 Liverpool Street to Cheshunt
06:01 Cheshunt to Liverpool Street
06:31 Cheshunt to Liverpool Street
05:28 Liverpool Street to Enfield Town
06:00 Liverpool Street to Enfield Town
06:22 Enfield Town to Liverpool Street
06:52 Enfield Town to Liverpool Street
06:03 Liverpool Street to Chingford
06:48 Liverpool Street to Chingford
07:03 Liverpool Street to Chingford
07:18 Liverpool Street to Chingford
07:33 Liverpool Street to Chingford
05:10 Chingford to Liverpool Street
05:25 Chingford to Liverpool Street
See revised Saturday morning timetable for more information on altered services
between Liverpool Street and Chingford, Enfield Town, Hertford East, Stansted
Airport and Cambridge.

We thank again our industry sources for this information and welcome any information which can be sent in confidence by visiting out contact page from the main site.

We are again pelased to be able to bring you a full update into the happenings for the next strike due to take place on the 06th and 07th August on NXEA services.

As a result of industrial action by National Express East Anglia (NXEA) members of the ASLEF and RMT unions, most NXEA services will not run on Thursday 6 and Friday 7 August. A number of Saturday services will also be affected. First Capital Connect and NXEA will be accepting NXEA advance booked tickets andperiod return tickets (Standard/First Open Return, Saver Return) for reasonable routes up to one day either side of the strike days (i.e. on Wednesday 5 August and Saturday 8 August). However, please note there will be no acceptance of cross-London tickets on London Underground on other days for people who could not use them on the strike days.

First Capital Connect is planning to operate a normal service during the days of the strike, however there may be some short notice alterations, cancellations and/or short-formed services due to train stabling arrangements at Cambridge.
NXEA management staff will be on duty in customer service and operational roles at Ely and Cambridge to allow services to operate from these stations.
Additional FCC service: The 06:54 FCC Ely to King’s Cross service will start from King’s Lynn at 06:22, calling additionally at Downham Market at 06:33 before arriving to Ely and continuing at the normal time to King’s Cross.

Overview of NXEA services on affected days
A limited train service will operate between:
• Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street
• Southend Victoria and London Liverpool Street
• Norwich and Colchester and London Liverpool Street

In addition to last week’s arrangements, there will be:
• Some extra services between London Liverpool Street and Broxbourne
• A couple of additional trains during the day from Colchester to Norwich connecting into the services from London
The times of these services are set out in alternative timetables issued by NXEA. These timetables are available to download from the NXEA website.

These can be found by clicking here

What NXEA is advising.
• Customers are free to travel on these limited NXEA services, but should consider staggering their journeys as the services will be very busy.
• Customers travel at their own risk – NXEA accepts no liability in regard to consequential costs (i.e. taxi/hotel bills).
• Any seat reservations on NXEA services on either of the strike days can no longer be guaranteed.
• NXEA aims to run these services to the maximum number of carriages, however there is likely services will be extremely busy.
• Customers are strongly recommended to spread their journey times.

Additional bus services
Buses will run on both days from Liverpool Street to/from Harwich International direct as outlined below. Priority will be given to customers with ticket reservations for the Stena Line Ferry.

Buses:
• Depart Liverpool Street 06:25 Arrive Harwich International 08:10
• Depart Liverpool Street 20:38 Arrive Harwich International 22:23
• Depart Harwich International 07:10 Arrive Liverpool Street 08:55
• Depart Harwich International 20:40 Arrive Liverpool Street 22:25

Ticket acceptance:
Where applicable, customers may travel on other TOC services with their NXEA / usual ticket where a reasonable alternative route exists.

This includes:
From parts of Essex:
• NXEA tickets are valid on c2c services from Southend to London.
• NXEA car park Season tickets will be valid at c2c stations on a first come, first served basis.
From parts of Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire:
• NXEA tickets are valid on First Capital Connect services between King’s Lynn, Ely and Cambridge to London.
• East Midlands Trains services from Norwich to Ely. London Tickets from NXEA stations that are North, East or West of Cambridge and Ely are valid to King’s Cross on FCC services.
• Cross Country services from Ely and Cambridge to Stansted Airport.

London buses and London Underground will be accepting Travelcards and season tickets only; other passengers should buy appropriate bus or Underground tickets or use Oyster pay as you go.

In addition to these arrangements:
• Tickets with a starting point or destination as ‘Hertford Stations’ or ‘Enfield stations’ are valid on FCC services as a reasonable route.
• Travelcards are valid as long as the journeys made are within the zones on the ticket.
• Point-to-point season tickets and daily tickets that are not within the areas listed above are not valid on FCC services. An example would be a customer who holds a season ticket from Whittlesford to Tottenham Hale. This ticket would not be valid from Royston to Finsbury Park.
• Passengers should be advised to purchase an FCC ticket for the journey being made and claim a strike day refund on their ticket from NXEA.
• NXEA parking permits will not be accepted in FCC car parks. NXEA passengers must purchase a car parking ticket and be advised to claim a refund on their NXEA parking permit from NXEA.

Important note:
NXEA-dedicated tickets will be accepted. NXEA will not be selling NXEA-dedicated tickets for/on the days of the strike. However, some may have been sold before the strike was announced. These tickets should be accepted.

Refund arrangements
FCC will deal with applications for refunds in the normal way, additionally FCC should offer refunds for any NXEA Advance tickets valid for the strike days.

NXEA customers whose season tickets are not accepted on FCC services are advised to purchase the ticket required to make the FCC journey and claim a “strike day” refund through their normal NXEA station.

Additional pre-advised NXEA service alterations

The Industrial Action will also affect some services on Wednesday 5 August and Saturday 8 August.
Wednesday 5 August

18:43 Lowestoft to Liverpool Street service will terminate Colchester at 20:48.
19:46 Peterborough to Liverpool Street service will terminate Colchester at 21:48.

Thursday 6 August

The 06:05 Cambridge to Norwich service will run on Thursday ONLY.

Saturday 8 August

06:38 Liverpool Street to Peterborough service starts from Colchester at 07:38.
06:58 Liverpool to Ely starts from Cambridge at 08:20.
07:38 Liverpool Street to Lowestoft service starts from Colchester at 08:38.

The following Saturday services have been CANCELLED:

05:30 Norwich to Sheringham
06:22 Sheringham to Norwich
05:36 Norwich to Great Yarmouth
06:17 Great Yarmouth to Norwich
06:08 Cambridge to Norwich
06:27 Ipswich to Felixstowe
06:56 Felixstowe to Ipswich
05:58 Liverpool Street to Cambridge
06:28 Liverpool Street to Cambridge
04:25 Cambridge to Liverpool Street
05:21 Cambridge to Liverpool Street
04:10 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
04:40 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
05:10 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
05:25 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
05:55 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
06:55 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport
05:30 Stansted Airport to Liverpool Street
05:15 Bishops Stortford to Liverpool Street
05:30 Bishops Stortford to Stansted Airport
05:42 Liverpool Street to Hertford East
06:09 Hertford East to Liverpool Street
05:15 Liverpool Street to Cheshunt
05:45 Liverpool Street to Cheshunt
06:01 Cheshunt to Liverpool Street
06:31 Cheshunt to Liverpool Street
05:28 Liverpool Street to Enfield Town
06:00 Liverpool Street to Enfield Town
06:22 Enfield Town to Liverpool Street
06:52 Enfield Town to Liverpool Street
06:03 Liverpool Street to Chingford
06:48 Liverpool Street to Chingford
07:03 Liverpool Street to Chingford
07:18 Liverpool Street to Chingford
07:33 Liverpool Street to Chingford
05:10 Chingford to Liverpool Street
05:25 Chingford to Liverpool Street
See revised Saturday morning timetable for more information on altered services between Liverpool Street and Chingford, Enfield Town, Hertford East, Stansted Airport and Cambridge.

A ballot by members of the Transport and Salaried Staffs Association who work for National Express East Anglia have today voted by a margin of 3 to 1 for strike action on NXEA.

The TSSA are unable to join the strikes due to happen on 6/7 August as legally they have to give NXEA 7 days notice, however the union warned that when they join the strikes on 13/14 August there will be no trains AT ALL that will run.

TSSA represents most of the Booking Office Clerks and Middle managers. The middle managers were the ones who covered for striking staff during last weeks strikes and thus NXEA were able to run a very limited service.

An RMT spokesperson stated “From next week National Express East Anglia will not be able to run a scheduled service once the [TSSA-affiliated] managers join in.”

Gerry Doherty, the TSSA general secretary, said National Express had a “high-handed” management style, adding, “We have had continued problems at East Anglia and on the East Coast line as the company has tried to drive down costs in its unsuccessful bid to hang on to the east coast franchise.

“Our members are now saying they are no longer willing to pay the price for management failures with any more lost jobs or cuts in their conditions at work.”

The RMT and ASLEF unions have balloted for strike action on NXEA. Major disruption will occur on National Express East Anglia and Stansted Express service on Thursday 30 and Friday 31 July

A very limited service will run between:

London Liverpool Street and Colchester / Norwich
London Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria
London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport

An Hourly service will operate between London Liverpool Street and Colchester, with a half hourly service in the morning and evening peaks.
3 Services in during the peaks will be extended to Norwich

• First Departure from London to Colchester – 08:00
• Last Departure from London to Colchester – 19.00
• First Departure from Colchester to London – 06:15
• Last Departure from Colchester to London – 17:17
• Services extended from London to Norwich are 08:30, 09:30, 10:30 and 16:30, 17:30, 18:30.
• Services extended from Norwich to London are 05:40, 06:40, 07:40 and 14:00, 15:00, 16:00.

An hourly service will operate between London Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria via Shenfield. c2c services from Southend Central are not affected.

• First Departure from Southend – 06:06
• Last Departure from Southend – 21.06
• First Departure from London – 07:15
• Last Departure from London – 22:15

An hourly service will operate between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport.

• First Departure from Stansted – 05:55
• Last Departure from Stansted – 22.55
• First Departure from London – 06:55
• Last Departure from London – 23.55

There will be no other services run by National Express East Anglia on these days.

Tickets will be accepted on reasonable routes on:

• First Capital Connect services between London and Cambridge / Ely / King’s Lynn
• c2c services between London Fenchurch Street and Southend Central
• East Midlands Trains services between Ely and Norwich
• London Buses
• London Underground

The strike action will also affect some services on Wednesday 29 July and Saturday 1 August.

Below are the timetables for the limited service that is to be run by NXEA on the coming days of strike action:

London Liverpool Street to/from Norwich 30th and 31st July
London Liverpool Street to/from Southend 30th and 31st July
London Liverpool Street to/from Stansted 30th and 31st July
London Liverpool Street to/from Cambridge 1st August

Based on the recent searches which people are typing into google to get here, we feel it will make it easier to browsers to have an updated post regarding the NXEA strike.

National Express East Anglia (formerly ‘one’ railway) have been given notice by the RMT and ASLEF unions of strike action on the following dates:

from 0.01 hrs Thursday 30th July to 23.59 hours Friday 31st July
from 00.01 hrs Thursday 6th August to 23.59 hrs Friday 7th August
from 00.01 hrs Thursday 13th August to 23.59 hrs Friday 4th August,
and from 00.01 hrs Thursday 20th August to 23.59 hrs Friday 21st August.

National Express have now changed their mind about services not running and a very limited service will run between:
London Liverpool Street and Colchester / Norwich
London Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria
London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport
More details can be found on our latest post.

TSSA members have rejected the latest NXEA pay offer and are now having a ballot re-run. This ballot will close on or around 28th July 2009.
Based on current employment law, the first strike date could be 5th August 2009. This would mean that TSSA would join the ASLEF / RMT strike on 6th August 2009.
TSSA has stated “Unfortunately, our ballot will not be completed in time for the first two announced strike days by our sister unions ASLEF and RMT. However, we plan to join them on the later planned days of action. Standing together we can win!”.

National Express East Coast has been savaged by passenger watchdogs for a two-hour ticket office wait at Scotland’s second busiest station.

Passenger Focus was quoted as saying that the queue of dozens of passengers at Edinburgh Waverley on Tuesday was “unacceptable”.

A spokesman for NXEC pledged to improve staffing at the travel centre but denied the problem was caused by cuts.

He admitted there was only one person on the advance bookings counter for up to 15 minutes, and estimated passengers waited for a maximum of one and a half hours.

He said: “There was a period during the shift changeover when queues built up, for which we apologise. We will take steps to ensure we manage the process better in future.”

TSSA recently balloted its staff at Doncaster travel centre over staff cuts and shortages.

Members of both RMT and ASLEF unions have announced that they have planned a series of 48 hour strikes over pay and conditions.

These are due to happen on the 30th July, 6th August, 13th August and 20th August.

RMT leader Bob Crow has said “RMT are in no doubt that the failure to make any kind of meaningful pay offer to staff on National Express East Anglia is all about the company trying to milk the franchises that they have left, fatten up their profits and make their staff pay for a crisis which was cooked up in the boardroom by senior managers who have now jumped ship.

PFAS will keep you up to date with regards to this news.

UPDATE: We have just been told by FCC that they will be accepting tickets marked “any permitted” on routes from stations where FCC call at. Tickets marked “NXEA ONLY” will not be accepted.

We have now been informed by members of ASLEF and TSSA Unions that they also are balloting for strike action and action short of strike at National Express East Anglia.

NXEA have offered TSSA members a “derisory offer of £100 in July 2009 and a further £100 in January 2010.”

A TSSA rep explained that “NXEA have still not responded to our complaints about changes to the pension scheme and have refused to address our request for an equal pay audit.”

An ASLEF rep has told PFAS that “industrial relations have reached an all time low at NXEA, they are in danger of totally breaking down. Time off for reps is being cut down despite a huge increase in membership and the geographic area widening.”

We have withheld the details of both reps for fear of reprisals from National Express.

Members of the RMT union who work for National Express East Anglia (NXEA) have been asked by the RMT union if they wish ‘to launch a campaign of strikes’.

The RMT union has accused NXEA of failing to make any significant offer on pay. Furthermore the union has accused National Express of using the East Anglia franchise to prop up its East Coast Franchise.

By the End of 2009 the government is to take back services run by National Express on the East Coast Mainline Line into public ownership.

National Express is said to have lost up to £20 million in the first half of the year. The government have refused the company’s request to renegotiate it’s franchise agreements.

The DFT have confirmed that all services on the East Coast would run as normal and tickets would be honoured.

Existing staff will move over into the new company.

Lord Adonis has said that the government is not prepared to renegotiate rail franchises and will not bailout compaines that are unable to meet their franchise agreements.

It is believed that the government has grounds to end National Express’s two other rail franchises NXEA and C2C. National Express have rejected this and do don’t believe the government had the power to do this.

Earlier this week, rival transport company FirstGroup said a takeover approach made for National Express had been rejected.

In a trading statement, National Express said that the “challenging economic environment” meant it was seeing fewer passengers on the East Coast Mainline and “significant” levels of people downgrading from first-class and full fares.

The firm is trying to reduce a debt pile of about £1.2bn.

Cuts have been made in dividend payouts to shareholders and other spending, while 750 jobs have also been lost.

Last month, the company started charging passengers for reserving a seat on its East Coast and East Anglia franchises.