RMT strikes hit EMR Intercity and Connect services again this week

The RMT union has confirmed further industrial action affecting East Midlands Railway's Intercity and Connect services, with disruption expected today and continuing on Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 September, according to [2]. The same union action previously hit services over the August bank holiday weekend, on Sunday 30 and Monday 31 August, according to [2]. EMR Regional train services are not affected by the strike action, according to [2]. But passengers on Intercity and Connect routes — including the key line between Sheffield, Nottingham and London St Pancras International — face significantly reduced timetables on the strike days. According to [2], a reduced service is expected to start after 07:00 and finish before 19:00, and trains "are expected to be extremely busy" with passengers possibly unable to board the service they had planned to catch. National Rail's advice, carried in [2], is blunt: "Customers are advised to only travel if your journey is essential." Queuing systems will be in place at London St Pancras International and Sheffield stations to manage crowds, and passengers are told to allow extra time at the station. Separately from the strike dates, EMR has introduced a temporary reduced Intercity timetable that will remain in place on non-strike days too, which the operator says is intended "to help provide a more consistent and reliable service whilst they address issues with the performance and reliability of their trains," according to [2]. This suggests the disruption facing passengers this week is not purely a product of the industrial action — EMR's own fleet and performance problems are compounding it. That the strikes are landing on top of pre-existing reliability trouble is echoed in a separate account from a regular EMR customer, published in [1], which describes long-standing frustration with the operator — citing "clapped out declassified class 360 trains," failure to maintain connections at Kettering, and general unreliability requiring multiple changes, for instance between Sheffield and Luton. That passenger says they gave up on EMR "a long time ago" and now drives to Stevenage to use LNER instead. This is one individual's testimony rather than an official assessment of the network, but it points to a pattern of dissatisfaction with EMR's Intercity service that predates this week's strike dates. No engineering work changes to Intercity, Connect or Regional services beyond those already noted have been announced for the strike days themselves, according to [2]. However, unrelated late-night engineering work is also altering some overnight services around the bank holiday period, including delays and revised stopping patterns on services between London St Pancras and Nottingham, Sheffield and Derby, and a rail replacement bus between Mansfield Woodhouse and Worksop, according to [2] — though these specific overnight changes relate to the earlier August bank holiday dates rather than the September strike days. For anyone with EMR Intercity or Connect journeys planned today, Wednesday or Thursday, the message from the material is consistent: expect severe disruption, check before travelling, and only make the trip if it's essential. What to watch next: whether EMR or the RMT signal any resolution before Thursday, and whether the "temporary reduced Intercity timetable" becomes a longer-term fixture given the operator's own admission of performance and reliability problems.