ANOTHER WEEK OF RAIL STRIKE MISERY LOOMS FOR MILLIONS OF BRITONS
- Train drivers' union Aslef has also imposed an overtime ban in a pay dispute
- Passengers reliant on 16 different rail operators will be hit by the strikes
Commuters across the UK are facing yet another week of travel misery as a militant trade union walks out - leaving some parts of the country without any trains.
Members of the train drivers' union Aslef at 16 operators will also launch a six-day ban on overtime tomorrow - with warnings of short-notice cancellations.
They will also stage three one-day strikes across different operators between Tuesday and Thursday as part of a long-running dispute over pay - with rail chiefs calling the disruption 'wholly unnecessary'.
Passengers are being urged to check before they travel, with services that do run on strike days starting later and finishing earlier than normal.
No talks have been held between the union and train operators for more than a year - with an impasse between Aslef and the Government dragging on for even longer.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, wrote to Aslef last week suggesting informal talks which could result in more formal negotiations.
A spokesman for the RDG said: 'The rail industry is working hard to keep trains running but it is likely that services on some lines will be affected on the evening before and morning after each strike between May 7 and May 9 because many trains will not be in the right depots to start services the following day.
'We can only apologise to our customers for this wholly unnecessary strike action called by the Aslef leadership which will sadly disrupt journeys once again.
'It will also inflict further damage on an industry that is receiving up to an additional £54million a week in taxpayer cash to keep services running, following the Covid downturn.'
Train drivers will strike on the following days on Tuesday on routes covered by c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR's Great Northern, Thameslink and Southern including Gatwick Express, Southeastern and South Western Railway.
The following day there are set to be walkouts on Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, Chiltern, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, GWR and West Midlands Trains services.
And Thursday will see strikes affecting LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express.
Aslef said its members have not had a pay rise for five years and has accused the Government of 'giving up' trying to resolve the dispute.
When announcing the industrial action last month, Aslef's general secretary Mick Whelan said: 'It is now a year since we sat in a room with the train companies – and a year since we rejected the risible offer they made and which they admitted, privately, was designed to be rejected.'
National Express has said that it will be providing thousands of extra seats this week to deal with increased demand during the rail strikes.
The coach operator announced an additional 7,500 seats on its most popular routes.
National Express said 19million people had travelled on its coach network in 2023, a 25 per cent increase on 2022.
Since the rail strikes began in June 2022, National Express has recorded around 1.3million new passengers travelling on its services on industrial action days during rail strike days.
The walkouts this week ahead come as the early May bank holiday weekend getaway was blighted by heavy rain and rail disruption.
Friday brought delays on the London Overground between Stratford and Richmond due to a signalling fault while the Northern line had delays due to a train shortage and the Piccadilly line was disrupted between Acton Town and Uxbridge.
There were part closures diverting travellers elsewhere across the capital today on the Circle and District lines as well as the Docklands Light Railway.
Northern and TransPennine Express services between Scunthorpe and Doncaster were disrupted due to a landslip, while a speed restriction over a defective track in Hampshire between Portchester and Cosham was delaying some services on Great Western Railway, Southern and South Western Railway.
Another landslip in West Yorkshire between Pontefract Monkhill and Knottingley was delaying Northern services.
And the operator's trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Sheffield via New Mills Central were also being disrupted due to track repairs.
Network Rail has said it is carrying out 487 projects over the bank holiday period.
No trains are running today between London Euston and Milton Keynes or between Glasgow and England due to work on the West Coast Main Line at Crewe, Wigan and other locations.
There is also disruption over the weekend in Cambridge, Coventry and Liverpool.
Meanwhile, engineers on the Croydon Tramlink will strike from 8pm today to 6am on Thursday in a separate pay dispute.
Unite said its members are paid up to £10,000 a year less than similarly qualified workers on London Underground.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: 'It is outrageous that Transport for London somehow thinks it is acceptable to be systemically underpaying highly skilled workers who are essential to keep the tram system functioning.'
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: 'The Transport Secretary and Rail Minister have already facilitated a pay offer that would take train drivers' average salaries up to £65,000 - almost twice the UK average salary.
'Aslef are the only union left striking after the Government oversaw deals with all the other unions.
'Instead of causing passengers disruption, they should put this offer to their members and work with industry to end this dispute.'
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