GREATER Anglia passengers will need to plan ahead for the start of December as the train operator has announced upcoming strike action.

On Tuesday December 5, there will be a full strike by ASLEF members.

A heavily reduced service will operate on only four routes on an hourly basis and, with the exception of the Stansted Express service, for a limited period. 

Those four routes are Colchester to London, Southend Victoria to London, Stansted Airport to London (Stansted Express) and Norwich to London.

With the exception of the Stansted Express, these services are planned to start much later and finish earlier than normal.

A small number of Cambridge to London Liverpool Street services are also planned to operate, but only approximately every two hours and across a very limited period.  

There will be no services at all on any other Greater Anglia routes on Tuesday, December 5.

Meanwhile, from Friday December 1 to Saturday December 9 inclusive, there will be action short of a strike by members of the ASLEF union.

On December 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9, a normal timetable will be in place, with most services operating on all Greater Anglia routes, but with some planned cancellations.

On Sunday December 3, action short of a strike will lead to no services at all operating on some Greater Anglia routes and a number of other routes will be affected by additional cancellations and/or planned engineering work.

Manningtree to Harwich is among the affected routes.

Journey planners will be updated with exact train times three days before each strike date.

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia’s managing director, said: “Unfortunately on December 5, no services will run at all on most Greater Anglia routes, with just an hourly service during normal operating hours on the Stansted Airport to London route and an hourly service for limited hours on the Norwich to London, Colchester to London and Southend Victoria to London routes, plus a few services between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street.

“On the days affected by action short of a strike, the vast majority of services will be running as normal, but there will be some alterations and cancellations across our network, especially on Sunday 3 December, when far more services will be affected and far more disruption will take place, along with planned engineering work on some routes.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused by these service alterations and advise customers to plan ahead and check before they travel.”