The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has announced that its members at East Midlands Railway (EMR) will stage 24-hour walk-outs on 1 August and the following two Saturdays. The union says it is acting after repeated safety failures on the operator’s new Class 810 ‘Aurora’ fleet, including loss of train-radio communications—an issue that has already forced several in-service resets in the last week. Although EMR serves domestic routes, the stoppages will disrupt the key London-St Pancras–Luton–Nottingham–Sheffield corridor, used heavily by international business travellers transferring between East Midlands Airport, London and the north. Connections into Eurostar at St Pancras and onto Heathrow via the Elizabeth line are also likely to be affected, forcing mobility managers to re-route travellers or book overnight accommodation. EMR insists the trains meet all regulatory requirements and says contingency timetables will protect “essential long-distance services”, but details have yet to be published. Past RMT actions have typically cut capacity by 50–60 percent and generated overcrowding on open-access operators Lumo and Hull Trains, as well as on Avanti West Coast services. From a compliance standpoint, employers should remind staff of Working Time Directive limits—particularly mobile workers who may face extended road journeys. Organisations with posted workers or short-term assignees in the East Midlands engineering and logistics clusters should review travel-risk assessments and update emergency contacts in case alternative transport fails. The dispute highlights the growing strain on the UK rail network as operators introduce new rolling-stock amid tight budgets. Should other fleets show similar software faults, further regional strikes cannot be ruled out, adding unpredictability to domestic legs of international itineraries.
Source: RMT Press Office
