The largest train company in the north of England has issued a guide to travelling over Christmas and New Year and it makes for grim reading. Northern say services are not expected to get back to normal until January 9 as strikes, engineering works and the Christmas shutdown play havoc with the timetable.
Passengers in Greater Manchester are being warned not to travel on Northern services on nine days over the holidays, including Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and much of the first week of January. Disruption is also expected on 13 other days, including New Year's Eve, with passengers being advised to check before they travel.
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Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: "We hope this quick reference guide will make it easier for customers to make travel arrangements over the Christmas period. The main cause of the disruption remains industrial action by the RMT union and we can only apologise to our customers for the inconvenience it will cause to their journeys."
Passengers are being advised to use the new 'Check My Timetable' feature on the Northern website to see the changes specific to their local station. It comes as members of Rail, Maritime and Transport union launched a fresh strike today (Friday) as a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions remained deadlocked.
Talks between RMT leaders, train company employers and Rail Minister Huw Merriman on Thursday failed to make a breakthrough. The union went ahead with another 48 hour walkout from Friday on Network Rail and 14 train operators which crippled services across the country.
Trains started later than usual and will finish earlier, while some parts of the country had no services. Disruption will continue for the rest of the month because of an overtime ban by RMT members at 14 train operators.
Speaking at a picket line in London, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the union continued to receive strong support from the public. Asked if last night's talks raise the chances of strikes being called off before Christmas, Mr Lynch said: "Well it's better we are talking than not, so the rail minister convened a meeting last night with the RMT representatives along Network Rail and the train operators.
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"We exchanged some ideas and some possibilities, there was no negotiations at that, nothing arising tangible out of that. But what he did having heard that, as the facilitator, as they describe themselves, and the people that ultimately own the purse strings, is he invited us and requested that we get together and hold further talks going forward and we'll do that in the next period if the companies want to get engaged in it."
Steve Montgomery, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group, said: "Regrettably, the RMT leadership's refusal to put our proposed 8 per cent pay offer to its membership means we are unable to reach a resolution at this stage, although we remain open to talks. With the deadline having passed where disruption could be avoided even if strike were called off, our focus is on giving passengers the maximum possible certainty so they can make their festive plans.
"No-one wanted to see these strikes go ahead, and we can only apologise to passengers and to the many businesses who will be hit by this unnecessary and damaging disruption. We continue to urge RMT leaders to put our proposals to their members rather than condemning them to weeks of lost pay either side of Christmas during a cost-of-living crisis."
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