Passengers warned of 24-hour Northern Rail strike

Commuters are being warned to plan ahead and expect disruption to Northern Rail services from 7am on Monday to 7am on Tuesday.

Most Northern rail services are not expected to run, with many local stations in South Yorkshire being served by few or no trains.

Those that do operate will be working to a revised timetable and are expected to be extremely busy, South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive said.

Services will generally not start before 7am and will finish before 7pm.

An SYPTE spokeswoman warned that South Yorkshire’s public transport and road networks are also likely to be busier, especially at peak morning and evening times.

“Key commuter routes are forecast to face the most pressure as passengers affected by the strike make other arrangements,” she said.

More double decker buses will be run on busy Stagecoach Yorkshire and First South Yorkshire routes such as Barnsley-Wakefield, Barnsley-Penistone, Sheffield-Chapeltown-Barnsley, Doncaster-Bentley and Rotherham-Conisbrough-Doncaster, to maximise capacity for the anticipated increase in passenger numbers.  

Additional buses will also be provided where possible, with peak hour trips between Sheffield-Barnsley and Barnsley-Sheffield operating with two buses rather than the usual one on service 265.

Northern customers will be able to use their rail tickets on Arriva Bus services, including Yorkshire Tiger, on 13 March to make journeys they would otherwise have made by rail.

SYPTE is working with Northern rail and transport authorities across the North of England to co-ordinate the region’s response and to support communication with customer, the spokeswoman said.

Stephen Edwards, executive director of SYPTE, said: "We have taken local action to assist passengers that need to travel during the strike — working with bus operators to bolster services and highway authorities to optimise traffic flow.

“However, public transport and road networks are still expected to be significantly busier than normal, and we would urge passengers that need to travel on Monday to help minimise this by planning ahead now, carefully considering their travel options and allowing extra time for their journey.”

To help keep South Yorkshire commuters moving, information is available on the dedicated webpage travelsouthyorkshire.com/industrial-action and additional customer service support will be put in place at Traveline 01709 51 51 51, on Twitter @TSYalerts and in Interchanges on the day.

The latest travel updates, revised rail timetables, replacement bus details and information for ticket holders for March 13 can be found on Northern's website at northernrailway.co.uk/industrial-action.

Journey updates will be provided by Northern at journeycheck.com/northern/ and on Twitter @northernassist.