Rail strikes in December 2023

Rail staff have announced a new round of strikes to take place between Saturday 2 December and Friday 8 December as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. 

Different train companies will be affected on different days – please do check with your rail networks to get the latest updates and information. One-day drivers’ strikes have been announced as follows, with disruption expected on, and around, the following days on the following services: 

• Saturday 2 December: East Midlands and LNER 
• Sunday 3 December: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Great Northern Thameslink and West Midlands 
• Tuesday 5 December: C2C and Greater Anglia 
• Wednesday 6 December: Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, SWR main line, SWR depot drivers, and Island Line 
• Thursday 7 December: CrossCountry and GWR 
• Friday 8 December: Northern and TransPennine Express 

Travelling to campus 

If you are coming into campus, please allow extra time to get to your destination. You can visit Transport for London, National Rail or the Citymapper app, which might be useful for planning alternative types of transport such as bicycle and scooter hire, walking, buses etc. 

Discussions are ongoing and it is possible that the industrial action may be cancelled if an agreement is reached. Please do keep following the news and the National Rail website to find out if your services are likely to be affected. 

Advice for students 

It is possible that some of your teaching will have to be rescheduled or moved online if our staff are unable to travel or need to prioritise childcare responsibilities.  

UCL will make every attempt to keep activities running for students, with student-facing staff asked to come in to work where possible. If you are coming into campus please allow extra time to get to your destination and use the websites detailed above to plan your transport. 

Keep a close eye on your UCL emails and look out for Moodle page announcements. 

Advice for staff 

If you are unable to get to work using alternative transport, you should let your line manager know as soon as possible. If transport strikes affect your ability to come into campus, you are welcome to work from home on the affected days, if your job lends itself to home working.  

Staff unable to work from home can agree flexible solutions with managers such as using TOIL or making up lost time where possible. If alternative arrangements cannot be found, staff should arrange to take annual leave or unpaid leave, in line with our Special Leave policy on travel and weather disruption.