A national train strike caused chaos and disruption across the country on Wednesday, as thousands of rail workers walked out in a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
Only around one in five trains ran on Wednesday, with some areas having no services at all. Train services will continue to be disrupted on Thursday morning following the 24-hour strike by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT).
Talks are expected to resume on Thursday but there is little sign of the deadlock being broken and more strikes are planned for the coming weeks. The next strike is set to be held on Saturday (30 July) at eight train operators by members of the drivers’ union Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA).
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Though train operators in the North West will be largely unaffected, those catching connecting trains may have their travel plans disrupted and are advised to plan ahead. The 30 July ASLEF strike will affect Arriva Rail London, Chiltern Railways, Greater Anglia, Great Western, Hull Trains, LNER, Southeastern, and West Midlands Trains.
Avanti West Coast said: “Drivers at Avanti West Coast are not taking part in this industrial action, but services are expected to be very busy as a result of the impact these strikes will have on the rest of the network.”
Merseyrail said: “Merseyrail drivers are not on strike and it will not affect our train services. The normal regular timetable will run across the Merseyrail network this weekend.”
Northern Rail said: “Whilst we are not affected by the industrial action, if you have a through ticket - one which you require both our services and services of another train company affected by strike such as LNER, TPE, CrossCountry, EMR - then you can use your through ticket between now and 2 August.”
Transport for Wales said: The ASLEF strike “does not affect our services but other operators may be affected. Pease check your entire journey. Expect services to be busier than usual. Extremely busy between Swansea - Newport and Shrewsbury - Birmingham. Essential travel only on these lines.”
West Midlands Railway said: “Services will not operate other than a special shuttle between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International. Other operators will be running on some routes."
Mick Whelan, general secretary of ASLEF, said: “Strikes are always the last resort. We don’t want to inconvenience passengers but we’ve been forced into this position by the companies, who say they have been driven to this by the government.
“It’s not unreasonable to ask your employer to make sure you’re not worse off for a third successive year. Especially as the train companies are doing very nicely out of Britain’s railways with handsome profits, dividends for shareholders, and big salaries for managers.
“These companies are offering us nothing, saying their hands have been tied by the government. That means, in real terms, with inflation running ahead at 9%, 10%, and even 11% this year, according to which index you use, that they are being told to take a real terms pay cut, and that is not acceptable.”
ASLEF has also announced drivers at nine rail companies are to stage a one-day strike on Saturday August 13. The RMT and TSSA will hold more strikes on August 18 and 20, while London Underground workers will walk out on August 19.
A row broke out between unions and the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Wednesday after he laid out plans to curb industrial action, including stopping coordinated industrial action, limiting picketing, and having a cooling off period after strikes.
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