Travel chaos fears as strikes to close 89 per cent of train network on weekend

There are fears rail strikes on October 1, which will close 89 per cent of the train network, will cause travel chaos for tens of thousands of people trying to attend the London Marathon, sporting events and concerts.

Rail passengers are being urged only to travel if necessary on Saturday because of a strike by workers in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Around 50,000 people will take part in the London Marathon on October 2, though thousands of runners may not be able to reach the starting line by 9:30am due to the lack of trains the day before.

The Premier league‘s return after an underwhelming international break may have to wait another week for the likes of Brighton fans aiming to travel up to Liverpool and Everton fans hoping to travel to Southampton.

Unlike previous strike days, there will be no trains between London and a number of other major UK cities – including Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle, Brighton and Norwich. 

Which means pop star Machine Gun Kelly and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli might be left with quite a few empty seats at their concerts in the capital on Saturday.

Even delegates travelling to the Conservative Party conference this weekend will be among those affected by the strikes. 

The disruption is due to members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), Aslef, Unite and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) staging a co-ordinated walkout.

A reduced timetable has been published, showing that just 11% of rail services will run, with some areas having no trains.

It will be the first time the unions have walked out on the same day, so services will be more significantly disrupted than on previous strike days.

Rail passengers are being urged only to travel if necessary on Saturday, October 1, because of a strike by workers – which will close 89 per cent of the network

People planning to take part in the London Marathon (pictured) on Sunday, October 2, may struggle to travel down or have to change their plans to arrive the day before

The disruption is due to members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (pictured: Mick Lynch, RMT general-secretary), Aslef, Unite and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association  staging a co-ordinated walkout

Delegates travelling to the Conservative Party conference this weekend will be among those affected by the strikes

Trains will start later in the morning and finish earlier in the evening, and there will be no trains at all across large parts of the network.

Those passengers who must travel – including those looking to participate in or watch the London Marathon – are advised to plan ahead and check when their last train will depart.

Passengers are also advised that there is likely to be some disruption in the early morning of Sunday October 2 as workers return to duties.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: ‘Despite our best efforts to compromise and find a breakthrough in talks, rail unions remain intent on continuing and coordinating their strike action.

‘This serves only to ensure our staff forgo even more of their pay unnecessarily, as well as causing even more disruption…