Only travel by train if absolutely necessary: RMT and TSSA trade union strike action on Southeastern means the vast majority of trains will not run on Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 August

Industrial action by the RMT trade union on the Southeastern network will mean that the vast majority of trains will not run on Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 August.

Southeastern is strongly advising passengers not to travel during this time. Passengers who’ve already bought a ticket can find out more about refunds at: southeasternrailway.co.uk/travel-information/live-travel-information/industrial-action.

All but 44 stations on Southeastern’s network will be closed, with only the London-Sevenoaks and Dartford lines remaining open, running a very limited service.

There will be no trains serving most of Kent, including the Medway Towns, Tonbridge, Maidstone, Thanet, Canterbury, Folkestone and Dover, with Highspeed trains only running between London St Pancras and Ashford.

There will be no trains at all on the Hastings line, nor the branch lines including Sittingbourne to Sheppey, the Medway Valley Line and the Grove Park to Bromley North line.

Trains on the severely reduced network will only run between 07:00 and 19:00, and there will be no trains on any other route, with the last trains back from London running much earlier than usual.

You may be unable to board trains at stations where a limited service is running, especially at locations such as Ashford and Ebbsfleet

No rail replacement buses or taxis will be available.

A reduced timetable will be put into place as follows:

On the day after industrial action (Friday 19 August), no services will run before 07:00. If you travel by train on the day after industrial action, please expect severe disruption in the morning. Services won’t run until Network Rail staff begin their shifts on Friday. First trains will be busy, and queueing systems will be in place to manage space on trains, so please plan ahead, check your entire journey and allow extra time. No services will run before 7am.

There will also be strike action affecting the London Underground and Overground network, as well as bus services.

Alicia Andrews, Southeastern’s Commercial Director, said:

“If a strike goes ahead there’ll be significant disruption to our services. The number of train services we will be able to run will be extremely limited and so we strongly advise our passengers to only travel by train if absolutely necessary, to replan their journey for another day or, to work from home if they can. We apologise for the obvious inconvenience this causes.”

Passengers with questions about the impact on their journeys should check the Southeastern website, which has been updated with comprehensive information advising them what to do.

Strike day timetables set out the extremely limited number of trains that will run for those people who really need to travel, with information on refunds for people with unused tickets who decide not to travel.

Timetable information for Thursday 18 August is available below:

• Dartford lines
• High Speed via Ashford
• Sevenoaks line

Timetable information for Saturday 20 August is available below:

• Dartford lines
• Highspeed via Ashford
• Sevenoaks line

The network map below indicates which limited services will be running.

Refunds and compensation

If you have already bought a ticket, you can apply for a refund if you don’t travel:

• Daily ticket holders can claim a full refund with no admin fee if they choose not to travel.
• Advance ticket holders can either apply for a full refund with no admin fee or return to the original retailer for an eVoucher, for use purchasing a future ticket. eVouchers are valid for 12 months from the date of issue.
• Season ticket holders (Flexi, monthly or longer) can use Delay Repay to claim a day travel back if they choose not to travel on days of industrial action, making sure to select the reason for delay as ‘Industrial Action – did not travel’. For Flexi ticket holders, to receive Delay Repay you must have activated a pass for the day you’re claiming.
• Weekly tickets – we recommend you don’t buy a weekly season ticket during the industrial action. If you already have a weekly ticket please go to our refunds page to claim a partial refund.

If you do travel and were delayed for 15 minutes or more, you are entitled to Delay Repay compensation.

More information

You can keep up to date here where we’ll post the latest information, follow us on Twitter, or you can sign up to receive service updates on the planned industrial action.

We’re sorry for the frustration and inconvenience that this industrial action will cause.