Commuters in Warwick have been warned that there will be no Chiltern services north of Banbury next week as train drivers plan to strike over pay and redundancies.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will walk out on Network Rail and 13 train companies across three days this month.

On Tuesday 21 June up to 50,000 workers are expected to walk out nationwide, with 40,000 to strike on Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 of June.

And with the disruption worsened by the fact that signallers will also strike, rail operators have warned of serious delays and knock-on effects throughout the week.

Chiltern Railways, which operates both Warwick Station and Warwick Parkway, has warned passengers that it will run "a very significantly reduced timetable" from next Tuesday to Saturday.

And it said there would be no replacement bus services or alternative travel.

A statement on the company's website said: "Due to strike action by the RMT union we will run a very significantly reduced timetable from Tuesday 21 June to Saturday 25 June, and no services will operate north of Banbury or to Oxford.

"Services will finish earlier on Monday 20 June and start later on Sunday 26 June. 

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"On strike days there will be extremely limited availability of staff and as such we will not be able to operate services on most routes."

The operator also said that delays were expected on non-strike days "as we will not be able to position our fleet how we normally would".

Adding: "We therefore, ask customers to seriously consider the necessity of their journey on any day from Tuesday 21 through to Saturday 25 June."

Chiltern is facing further delays with the railway closed between Dorridge and Birmingham Moor Street due to "essential mid-week engineering works" on Monday 20 June.

Next week is set to be the most widespread industrial action in Britain this century.

More than 80 per cent of services are expected to be cancelled.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of WMT, said: "Railway workers have been treated appallingly and despite our best efforts in negotiations, the rail industry with the support of the Government has failed to take their concerns seriously.

"We have a cost-of-living crisis, and it is unacceptable for railway workers to either lose their jobs or face another year of a pay freeze when inflation is at 11.1 per cent and rising.

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"Our union will now embark on a sustained campaign of industrial action which will shut down the railway system."

(Header image by David P. Howard via geograph.org.uk)