Trains across the UK have come to a halt as 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) have walked out.
This comes after months of discussions following a dispute over pay, working conditions and job security. Thursday's strike action marks the first out of two strike days planned.
The majority of trains across Scotland have been cancelled with only a small amount of services running to and from Glasgow today (Thursday). Staff from Network Rail and 14 train operators are taking part in the industrial and although ScotRail staff are not associated, the action is having a significant knock-on-effect.
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There are only 11 services running throughout Scotland today and on Saturday, this is compared to the five that ran during the previous RMT strike action.
ScotRail have also warned customers to not travel by train on these days and expect delays and cancellation on the days after the strikes as signal boxes open up at different times.
Most trains won't run until the afternoon on Friday and customers are being urged to check their journey and plan ahead.
What trains are running today?
- Edinburgh Waverley – Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – Helensburgh Central: two trains per hour
- Glasgow Central – Hamilton/Larkhall: two trains per hour
- Glasgow Central – Lanark: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – Glasgow Central via Shotts: one train per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – Inverkeithing: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – Tweedbank: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – North Berwick: one train per hour
- Glasgow Queen Street – Larbert: one train per hour
- Glasgow Queen Street – Falkirk Grahamston: one train per hour
- Milngavie – Springburn: two trains per hour
View a list of cancelled/amended services for:
Dates the next strikes are and companies involved
The next strike day is Saturday August 20. Disruption is expected to continue through to Sunday.
The following train companies involved are;
- Chiltern Railways
- CrossCountry
- Greater Anglia
- LNER
- East Midlands Railway
- c2c
- Great Western Railway
- Northern Trains
- South Eastern
- South Western Railway
- TransPennine Express
- Avanti West Coast
- West Midlands Trains
- GTR (including Gatwick Express)
- London Overground
- Hull Trains
- London Northwestern Railway
Are there any more strikes planned?
After August 20, there are no strikes planned as of yet -however a union leader has warned the rail dispute could be prolonged “indefinitely”.
As PA reports, Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), called upon the Government to end its stance of refusing to get involved in talks over pay, jobs and conditions.
Mr Lynch wrote to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, saying: “Your government has made the decision to use taxpayers’ money to bail out private train companies from being liable for revenue lost because of industrial action on the condition the same companies comply with government instructions to hold down pay, cut thousands of safety critical rail jobs, introduce driver only trains and close ticket offices across the network.”
Mr Lynch said the union had calculated that, including the previous and forthcoming industrial action, more than £120 million of taxpayers’ money had been used to “bail out” private train companies to date.
He told the PA news agency: “Using taxpayers’ money to satisfy the anti-union agenda of the Tory party and seek to break the trade unions is shameful and means the dispute will be prolonged indefinitely as the train companies don’t lose a penny as a result of the industrial action and therefore have no incentive to settle the disputes.
“Instead of waging an ideological war against rail workers, millions of voters would rather that the Government allow for a fair negotiated settlement.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Yet again, for the sixth time since June, union leaders are opting to inflict misery and disrupt the day-to-day lives of millions instead of working with industry to agree a deal that will bring our railways into the 21st century.
“Today, thousands of A-level students across the country, many of whom have spent the majority of their college years studying at home due to the pandemic, are now being denied the chance to celebrate their hard work and dedication face to face with peers and teachers.
“It’s clear strikes are not the powerful tool they once were and union chiefs are no longer able to bring the country to a standstill as, unlike them, the world has changed and people simply work from home.
“All these strikes are doing is hurting those people the unions claim to represent, many of whom will again be out of pocket and forced to miss a day’s work.
“We urge union bosses to do the right thing by their members and let them have their say on Network Rail’s very fair deal, which will deliver the reforms our rail system urgently needs.
“It’s time to get off the picket lines and back around the negotiating table – the future of our railway depends on it.”
Why are they striking?
RMT members have rejected the 4 per cent pay deal from Network Rail as the union argues pay rises should be in line with inflation - which currently stands at 10 per cent.
Mr Lynch said that across the transport network members were now more determined than ever to protect their pensions, secure a decent pay rise, job security and good working conditions.
He said: “Network Rail have not made any improvement on their previous pay offer and the train operating companies have not offered us anything new.
“Tube bosses are having secret negotiations with the government about cutting costs by slashing jobs and undermining working conditions and pensions.
“Network Rail is also threatening to impose compulsory redundancies and unsafe 50 per cent cuts to maintenance work if we did not withdraw strike action.
“The train operating companies have put driver only operations on the table along with ransacking our members terms and conditions.
“RMT will continue to negotiate in good faith but we cannot tolerate being bullied or hoodwinked into accepting a raw deal for our members.
“The government need to stop their interference in these disputes so the employers can come to a negotiated settlement with us.”
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