Dear Aston Student,

We wanted to make you aware of the current scheduled train strikes and road closures this month which may impact your journey coming onto campus.? 

The West Midlands Train and Cross Country have announced that they will strike on Wednesday 8 May. Services are also likely to be disrupted and start later on the day immediately following a full strike day. Passengers are warned to expect significant disruption and advised to plan ahead and check before you travel. In addition, both train operators will have an overtime ban from Monday 6 May - Saturday 11 May which may alter the timetable of trains that will be running.

The Aston Expressway will also be closed on Wednesday 08 May and Thursday 09 May due to maintenance if you are arriving by car.

Please note, this is during the assessment season and exams are still scheduled to go ahead as planned. So, we recommend you travel in advance, or find an alternative way to come onto campus. If you have any questions, please contact your college support teams.

BSS – bss_support@aston.ac.uk 
EPS – ask_eps@aston.ac.uk 
HLS - hls_support@aston.ac.uk

There will be no adjustments made regarding examinations guidance,therefore students arriving up to 30 minutes late can enter the exam but will not be given the additional 30 minutes at the end. Planned strikes are also not accepted on grounds of exceptional circumstances as these are planned events.

We encourage you to please plan your journey before travelling and allow extra time as other forms of public transport may be busier than usual. We also recommend you check your train journey before you travel on the?National Rail journey planner?for live information and updates. Some timetables are not amended until closer to the date of travel. 

Alternative travel 

If you do need to travel on the above dates, we recommend you look at alternative transport. For local travel, you can check out the?Transport for West Midlands website.

For further journeys, you may want to check out travelling by coach.?Students can get?15% off at National Express?and?10% off at Megabus.? 

Kind regards,

Professor Osama Khan 
Deputy Vice - Chancellor Students