Rail passengers in Birmingham are bracing for 48 hours of strike disruption, including on the day of England's World Cup quarter-final against Norway. Members of the TSSA union will walk out on Thursday, July 9, Friday, July 10, and Saturday, July 11, affecting West Midlands Railway (WMR) and London Northwestern Railway (LNR) services.
Reduced services and early closures
A reduced service will operate on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, some routes will have no service, with no trains running after 7pm and the final WMR services departing from 5pm. Saturday's limited timetable will see later starts, with the first WMR services running from 7am. The Cross City Line between Lichfield Trent Valley and Redditch or Bromsgrove via Birmingham New Street will have two trains per hour, the Wolverhampton to Walsall route via Birmingham New Street will have one train per hour, and the Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham International route via Birmingham New Street will also have one train per hour.
No trains will run on any other WMR route, including all routes via Birmingham Snow Hill, the Camp Hill Line, Nuneaton to Leamington Spa, Birmingham New Street to Hereford, and Birmingham New Street to Shrewsbury. Disruption is expected to continue into the morning of Sunday, July 12 due to train displacement.
London Northwestern Railway changes
LNR will also run a limited service on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, no trains will run after 7pm, with the final services departing by 5.30pm. Saturday's limited timetable will see later starts from 7am. Routes with a limited service include Birmingham to Liverpool (one train per hour), London Euston to Crewe (one per hour), Birmingham to London Euston via Northampton (one per hour), Milton Keynes to London Euston (one per hour), and Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey (one per hour). No trains will run on other LNR routes, including between Stafford and Crewe via Stoke-on-Trent and the Marston Vale Line between Bedford and Bletchley.
Union demands and reaction
The TSSA said the dispute is over rest day working payments, claiming that West Midlands Trains and the Department for Transport have repeatedly failed to fulfil assurances of an improved rest day working agreement giving TSSA members parity with other unions. This is the second round of strikes after similar action in May 2026. TSSA General Secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: “These strikes will go ahead as planned because our members have not been given parity with those in other unions – a perfectly reasonable demand. As things stand we face an intolerable situation. Our reps at West Midlands Trains have consulted the membership and they remain determined to proceed with their legitimate action. The last round of industrial action caused a significant impact to services and the same will happen this time around. Of course, as ever our union only takes strike action as a last resort, so we hope our demands can be met in the coming days to avoid any more disruption.”
Operator response
Jonny Wiseman, customer experience director for WMR and LNR, said: “We are disappointed TSSA has called further unnecessary strike action which is set to cause significant disruption for our customers. We are working hard to reach a resolution to this dispute and urge TSSA to continue talks. We are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause our customers and are doing everything we can to minimise the impact as much as possible. If the strike action does go ahead, we will be running a significantly reduced timetable on both dates. Customers are advised to check before they travel by visiting journey planners and our website.”
