Major disruption to rail services in Banbury next week – people are being advised to only travel if absolutely necessary

Rail users in Banbury have been told to only travel if absolutely necessary when the strikes start next week.

Train operator Chiltern Railways said there will be extremely limited availability of staff and as such it will not be able to operate services on most routes on June 21, 23 and 25.

The operators said there will be no service north of Banbury, or to Oxford, between Tuesday June 21 and Saturday June 25.

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

A spokesperson for Chiltern Railways said: "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 June 20 and Thursday June 23 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"