Schools and colleges have drawn up contingency plans to help students take exams during this week’s national rail strike.
Many of the 2,500 students at Brockenhurst College in Hampshire use the train to get to class.
The college has organized minibuses and taxis to transport those taking exams on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Henley College in Oxfordshire is asking students to add an extra two hours to their travel.
Many students are on educational leave and others can use or drive buses, but for others the train is the only option.
Guy Francis, Deputy Headmaster at Brockenhurst College, said: “For those affected who cannot come by train we are providing other means of transport for them, in some cases minibuses and taxis, to enable them to board their exams.
“We’ve also learned a lot from the pandemic so we know how to provide blended learning, although the best learning happens in the classroom we can still learn remotely very effectively.”
Henley College has almost 2,000 students from Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.
It asked its students taking exams to allow an extra two hours to travel to campus.
“If you would normally start a car journey at 07:45 in order to arrive at 08:30, please start that journey no later than 05:45,” advised the College.
For students not taking exams, the strike action caused the same problems with distance learning during the lockdown, with one describing it as “a bit painful” and another saying it was “frustrating”.
The National Union of Students, which represents higher education and further education institutions, said: “Responsibility for disruption inflicted on students at an already stressful time rests squarely with managers of railway companies and government.
“Students are calling on rail companies to deal fairly with workers and we are calling on the government to stop blocking a fair solution. The railroad companies and the government need to clean up the mess they are creating.”
The train operators said they were trying to work with unions to end the dispute, which focuses on job cuts, wages and working conditions.
Finance Minister Simon Clarke ruled out direct government involvement in the talks, saying the railways must be “financially self-sustaining”.
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