Strike action to close Birmingham New Street at 7pm on Saturday

Passengers planning on travelling on the third day of strikes are being warned not to get caught out with trains finishing much earlier than normal.

Many last trains will leave between 3pm and 5pm and arrive at their final destinations before 7pm, while some services - such as Walsall to Rugeley - will not run at all.

And due to planned engineering works, no services will run from either Moor Street or Snow Hill stations in Birmingham on Saturday.

The entire rail network will be open on Sunday with around 60 per cent of services running, but some disruption is still expected and passengers should continue to check before they travel.

A full timetable will be back in place on Monday.

Alex Warner, chair of the Grand Railway Collaboration, representing West Midlands train operators and Network Rail, said: “I would like to thank passengers for their patience and understanding with the limited service which has been operating throughout this week.

“A very limited service will again be running on Saturday and I strongly urge passengers to only travel if their journey is necessary and to use other modes of transport wherever possible.”

This week’s strike action on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday is likely to have cost the rail industry up to £150m in lost revenue and costs associated with aborting upgrade works.

Denise Wetton, Network Rail’s Central route director, said: “We’ve been working hard all week negotiating with the RMT union and it’s hugely disappointing our two sides have not been able to reach a compromise, leading to a third, damaging day of strike action which will now impact weekend rail travel.

“I’m hugely sorry that people’s family and leisure time will be disrupted, and for those who will once again struggle getting to work. Our advice is to please only travel if you must and regularly check National Rail Enquiries as the few services which will be running will finish early in the afternoon and I don’t want people to be caught out unable to get home again from a day trip.”

Passengers who still need to travel should check nationalrail.co.uk so they know exactly what to expect.