East Midlands Railway has announced a sharply reduced service for Sheffield on three Saturdays in August because RMT members are due to strike in a dispute over the operator’s new Class 810 Aurora trains. The action matters because it will substantially limit rail travel between Sheffield and London, while further industrial action could cause cancellations at short notice between strike days.

On 1, 8 and 15 August, EMR will run only between 07:00 and 19:00, with one train an hour from Sheffield to London St Pancras; regional EMR services are expected to operate normally and no replacement buses will be provided. The RMT says faults can leave trains without active safety systems and wants them withdrawn until proven reliable, while EMR says the fleet passed all required testing and safety standards; a work-to-rule begins on 2 August and continues in phases thereafter.