Major disruption to train services in Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth next week due to strike action

Services by Chiltern Railways will also be affected – see https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/tickets-and-times/changes for updates on services.

They said: “Please only travel by train if absolutely essential. If you are travelling, expect severe disruption and please.”

WMR has today (Wednesday) confirmed details of its reduced timetable after members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) announced their intention to stage strike action.

A very limited number of WMR services will run on these dates, with passengers urged to only travel if essential.

But no services will operate on the Leamington to Nuneaton line from Tuesday June 21 to Saturday June 25. And no services will be operating on the Birmingham Snow Hill to Leamington / Stratford (Snow Hill lines) from Monday June 20 to Saturday June 25.

Jonny Wiseman, WMR customer experience director, said some services in the West Midlands will continue, adding: “We will be operating a very limited service all through the week and we are asking customers to only travel with us if their journey is essential and no other transport option is available to them.

“Passengers holding tickets or season tickets will be entitled to refunds and should visit our website for information.”

The following routes will have a limited service in operation between 7.30am and 6.30pm on strike days:

- Cross-City Line (Lichfield Trent Valley – Redditch/Bromsgrove via Birmingham New Street) – two trains per hour

- Wolverhampton – Birmingham – one train per hour

- Birmingham New Street – Birmingham International – one train per hour

- No trains will run on any other WMR route, including all routes via Birmingham Snow Hill, Birmingham-Shrewsbury, Birmingham-Worcester-Hereford and Nuneaton-Leamington.

For further information passengers should visit www.wmr.uk/industrialaction - full timetables will be published later this week.

A spokesperson for Chiltern Railways said: "There will be no service north of Banbury, or to Oxford, between Tuesday 21 June and Saturday 25 June.

"Passengers seeking to travel to Leamington Spa or Birmingham New Street throughout the week can join an hourly CrossCountry service at Banbury, which our terminating services will connect to.

"We expect to have significantly less staff to service and prepare the number of trains we would normally need to operate the timetable. Coupled with the fact we are unable to position our fleet how we normally would, this means that we will have to operate a heavily reduced timetable on non-strike days during the week.

"Additionally, Network Rail engineering work in the Birmingham area between Monday 20 June and Thursday 23 June mean that no Chiltern Railways services north of Dorridge will be in operation on Monday. Rail replacement transport that was previously planned for this four-day railway closure has been cancelled.

"Chiltern Railways strongly advises customers to consider their journey and seek alternative methods of transport, but in cases where rail travel is a necessity, to check before they travel on the Chiltern Railways website (www.chilternrailways.co.uk) or app. An industry-wide, special timetable will be released on Friday.

"More information and FAQs can be found on www.chilternrailways.co.uk/strike"