Explained: The rail strikes set to cause travel chaos for football fans

Football fans face travel chaos this weekend, with a nationwide rail strike set to affect the journeys of thousands of supporters.

The one-day strike will impact nine train companies, with only one Premier League game set to be unaffected.

Here, The Athletic explains what is happening and what THAT means…

What’s happening?

On Saturday, August 13, train drivers belonging to ASLEF — the union that represents 96 per cent of train drivers in England, Scotland and Wales — will stage a 24-hour walkout at nine train companies in Britain.

ASLEF say the strike is happening after train companies “failed to make a pay offer to help our members keep up with the private cost of living”.

Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, LNER, Greater Anglia, London Overground, Southeastern, Hull Trains and West Midlands Trains.

The strikes are likely to cause knock-on disruption on Sunday, August 14, with all but West Midlands Trains and South Eastern running reduced timetables or partial services.

The following week will also see commuters disrupted on their journeys after the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ Union (RMT) announced a strike between August 18 and August 20 due to what the RMT has described as a “row over job security, pay and working conditions”.

How are games are going to be impacted?

Manchester United supporters will have to leave Saturday’s 5.30pm kick-off against Brentford early if they are to catch the last train back home.

The final service from London to Manchester, which would take a regular duration of around three hours, is due to depart Kings Cross St Pancras at 8.02pm. That is around 40 minutes after full-time but the eight-mile distance between the Gtech Community Stadium and the station takes around 50 minutes by car or public transport — nearby Kew Bridge is on the London Overground and therefore closed — and it would take almost three hours to walk.

Leeds and Newcastle United supporters could face an overnight public transport journey that may take more than 16 hours.

For Newcastle supporters, a train leaves Falmer — a station beside the Amex Stadium — around half-an-hour after the final whistle on Saturday. That takes nearly five-and-a-half hours and includes four changes, arriving into Newcastle at 10.45pm.

That service is already sold out — as is a 17-hour journey that leaves Falmer at 5.50pm and requires fans to spend 12 hours overnight in Doncaster before finally arriving back in Newcastle at 11am on Sunday morning. A lengthy journey that gets in just one hour earlier had tickets available on Friday lunchtime, but for a price of £177.

Leeds United fans face a five-hour journey with up to four changes to reach Southampton and a similar journey on the way back.

But they will need to move quickly to make a train before the 6pm service — that one currently costs £158 and takes more than 15 hours.

Bournemouth fans face a six-hour journey and three changes en route to their away match against Manchester City. Standard tickets for the service that leaves before 8am are sold out, meaning supporters looking to use the network would need to pay £223 for a first-class ticket or travel at 5.42 for half the price.

There are no Saturday services between Liverpool and Aston or Witton for Everton fans heading to Villa Park, and only a handful of seats remained on Friday lunchtime for a 3am National Express coach service between Liverpool and Birmingham. Fulham supporters heading to Molineux can take a train journey of nearly four hours with several changes but Chiltern Railways have warned travelling supporters that their trains will be “extremely busy and customers should expect delays and short notice cancellations”.

Only Leicester City’s trip to Arsenal will be unaffected by the strikes.

A full Championship, League One and League Two programme is also taking place this weekend, with Wigan vs Bristol City, Plymouth vs Peterborough and Swindon vs Carlisle among the long journeys affected by the strikes.

What has been said?

Rail companies have issued statements or used social media to issue warnings about disrupted services and advise passengers to make alternative arrangements or allow extra time.

Many clubs have also done the same.

In response to the strikes by ASLEF, Steve Montgomery, chair of the Rail Delivery Group, said: “We’re really disappointed that the ASLEF leadership has, for the second time in as many weeks, decided to impose yet more uncertainty for passengers and businesses by disrupting passengers’ weekend plans.

“Like any service or business, things do not just stand still and we must move with the times. We want to give our people a pay rise as we know everyone is feeling the pinch due to the cost-of-living rises.”

ASLEF general secretary, Mick Whelan, defended the strikes, saying: “We don’t want to inconvenience passengers because our friends and families use public transport, too, because we believe in building trust in the railways in Britain, and because we don’t want to lose money by taking industrial action.

“We don’t want to go on strike – strikes are always a last resort – but the companies, and the government, have, I’m afraid, forced our hand.”

The onus from the Premier League has been on clubs to communicate with their fans regarding travel advice. It is understood the rail disruption for travelling supporters has not been raised at any shareholder meetings.

The EFL is understood to have been in regular dialogue with its clubs regarding the industrial action, advising them to encourage supporters to plan journeys in advance and seek alternative modes of transport.

How many fans use trains to get to matches?

According to Campaign for Better Transport, taking a train to a football match is the most commonly used type of transport for both home and away matches.

For home matches, 34 per cent of football supporters travel to stadiums by train, with 29 per cent of people driving to a match.

Supporters are unsurprisingly far more reliant on trains for away matches, with 57 per cent of away fans using rail services.

London clubs are less dependent on Overground trains as they are the Underground but 76 per cent of supporters use the former for home games.

According to Stephen Joseph, chief executive of Campaign for Better Transport, 650,000 fans in the Premier League alone travel to matches every week.

What other options do fans have?

Many supporters are going to have to travel via a different mode of transport.

Many will likely be forced onto the roads and if a car if not an option, a coach could be. National Express and Megabus are operating some services but many seats have already been snapped up.

London Underground services will be running as normal this weekend for supporters travelling in the capital.

(Photo: Getty Images)