This week two 48-hour strikes are causing massive problems for rail passengers across the country - with no trains in East Anglia except a skeleton service on the main line to London during the middle of the day.

The second strike is due to end on Saturday with services resuming on Sunday in the run-up to Christmas - however, there had been fears that an overtime ban until the start of January could cause more problems.

But journey planners at Greater Anglia are hopeful that the company's services should be able to operate as normal until the afternoon of Christmas Eve - giving most people the chance to travel to their families for the Christmas holidays.

A spokeswoman for Greater Anglia said: "It looks as if our services should be unaffected by that action and that trains should run as normal.

"But anyone travelling on other operators as well should check because there are likely to be some cancellations and changes elsewhere on the network - those journeys will be disrupted."

The RMT union is calling its members out on strike again from 6pm on Christmas Eve, which means the network will close down earlier than normal on that day, which is a Saturday.

Greater Anglia is advising all its passengers to ensure they complete their journeys by early to mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve.

After Christmas RMT members are due to be on strike until the morning of December 27, which is a bank holiday - so services will start much later than normal.

The company is hoping that services should be operating as planned from late morning/early afternoon - but there was already disruption planned for passengers on the main line to London before the strikes were announced.

Engineering work is forcing the closure of the line at the London end, so between Christmas and the New Year passengers will have to use a bus connection from Ingatestone to Newbury Park tube station to reach the heart of London.

Further 48-hour strikes are planned for January 3/4 and 6/7, which will again mean there are very limited services on those days - with only a few trains running on the main line to London.