Industrial action by the RMT union is set to disrupt thousands of Northern customers next week, as the first of three strikes in July gets underway.

RMT members will walk out on Thursday 20 and Saturday 22 July, bringing all but a handful of Northern’s services across the North of England to a halt.

A further strike is planned for Saturday 29 July.

Due to the impact strikes have on fleet displacement, early morning services on Friday 21, Sunday 23 and Sunday 30 July are also expected to be disrupted.

In addition, the ASLEF union has declared ‘action short of strike’ from Monday 17 to Saturday 22 July which is likely to affect services too.

Northern has published a travel advice calendar to help its customers plan their journey during the period of action.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “Yet again, thousands of our customers will be inconvenienced as a result of this action by the RMT union.

“We all want to see an end to this dispute and the uncertainty that on-going strike action causes to people’s confidence in the railway.”

For more information about the strike and the skeleton service in place, customers should visit: www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/strikes.

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.