Rail staff strikes affect Lincoln Christmas Market trains

National rail union members will go on strike, resulting in cancellations to East Midlands Railway services that were due to take people to Lincoln Christmas Market this weekend.

Industrial action from members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) will take place on Friday, December 3 and Saturday, December 4.

This will affect many East Midlands Railway services throughout the weekend, particularly those travelling to Lincoln for the Christmas Market, which runs from Thursday, December 2 to Sunday, December 5.

Read: Your guide to the 2021 Lincoln Christmas Market

Over the course of the weekend, services from all over the country will be affected by the strikes, including Nottingham to Lincoln routes and Sheffield to London St Pancras.

East Midlands Railway has said there will be a “very small number” of cancelled services on the Nottingham to Lincoln route, with additional capacity still being provided via Intercity style trains for the Lincoln Christmas Market.

Rail replacement coaches will run for any services that are affected by strike action. To see the full list of affected routes, visit the EMR website.

A statement from East Midlands Railway says the RMT decision is “deeply disappointing” and will cause services to be “significantly reduced” due to having significantly fewer staff available to work.

A spokesperson for EMR said: “EMR has done everything it can to prioritise services to and from Lincoln.

“However, it is clear this level of service will not be sufficient to provide adequate capacity for the thousands of customers expected to travel to Lincoln over the weekend and therefore EMR is urging visitors to use alternative methods and not travel with East Midlands Railway. This is particularly acute for services between Nottingham and Lincoln.”

As well as Friday and Saturday, strike action will affect every Sunday until the new year, with four Newark North Gate to Lincoln services being cancelled until further notice, as well as the 7.32pm service from Lincoln to Nottingham.