Those planning to travel by train this weekend could see disruptions to their journey once again as further strikes take place by rail workers.
Saturday, March 18, will see members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) walk out at 14 train operators, with services also expected to be disrupted on Sunday morning. The strikes are the latest in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions, with more planned on March 30 and April 1.
The industrial action means that trains are due to start later and finish earlier than usual on Saturday, typically between 7.30am and 6.30pm. It's expected that between 40% and 50% of train services will run with varying impacts across the country, with some areas set to have no services running at all, according to PA.
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The RMT said that more than 20,000 workers will be taking strike action unless they reach an agreement with employers. The union's general secretary Mick Lynch said: "The private rail companies are in complete chaos, unable to make an improved offer to resolve our dispute and demonstrably failing to run the railways when we're not on strike.
"FirstGroup in particular is like an out-of-control wrecking ball, only fit to make money for its City bosses. Avanti and TransPennine Express are both an abject disgrace but their owners made £90 million out of the railways in dividends over the last two years despite running appalling levels of service.
"The RDG need to sort themselves out and settle our dispute with an improved offer and then the Government needs to nationalise both Avanti and TransPennine Express," the union chief added. "They are incapable of providing a decent service to passengers and the sooner they are brought into public ownership the better."
CrossCountry have said they will be running a reduced service on March 18, and urged passengers to check their entire journey before travelling as well as visiting their website for the latest updates. Transpennine have also said they will have a "very limited service" on some lines, and advised customers to only travel on strike days for "essential" journeys.
Similarly, LNER has said that a reduced service will be in operation on the strike day itself, as well as "minor alternations" to timetables on the days either side - the timetable for Saturday is now available in the LNER journey planner. Additionally, Northern said that "very limited" services will be running, trains will be very busy, and some stations will have no services.
Steve Montgomery, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), said: "This latest round of strikes will be a further inconvenience to our customers, who have already experienced months of disruption, and cost our people even more money at a time they can least afford it. They will also be asking why the RMT leadership blocked the chance to resolve this dispute by refusing to give their members – many of whom would have benefited from a 13% increase – a say on their own deal.
"Unfortunately, while we will pull out all the stops to keep as many trains running as possible, there will be reduced services across many parts of the rail network on strike days, so our advice is to check before you travel," he added.
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