Thousands of Aslef union members are striking in the latest industrial action in a deadlocked dispute over wages and “modernisation” at the railway. The strike has stopped most intercity trains between London and the Midlands, the north of England and Scotland and to south Wales. Parts of the UK, including the West Midlands, South West England and Kent, will have no trains running today. Train operators have warned passengers to avoid traveling on affected routes. Those attempting to travel should be prepared for overcrowded trains and possible last-minute cancellations, with the effects expected to linger into the first half of Sunday. Drivers will strike at Arriva Rail London, Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, London North Eastern Railway (LNER), West Midlands Trains and Southeastern. The strike means no trains at all on Saturday on London Overground, CrossCountry, Southeastern, West Midlands Trains, London Northwestern Railway and Avanti West Coast. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Very limited services will be running on Hull, Great Western Railway, LNER trains and the Greater Anglia network, including the Stansted Express Airport service. The rail industry has appealed to unions to continue talks. Steve Montgomery, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group, said that without passenger numbers having recovered to pre-pandemic levels, “ensuring a bright future means we have to adapt”. Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said he would continue to speak out but that the companies had been ordered by the government to cap pay well below inflation. He said he had been around the country speaking to drivers ahead of the strike – the second coordinated national strike by Aslef this summer – and that his members “are very keen on this and understand that we may be here for the long haul”. Saturday’s action is the first in a week of strikes by four separate transport unions that will drastically curtail rail services. Trains will also be disrupted for four days from Thursday as 40,000 members of the RMT union at Network Rail and 14 train operators hold two 24-hour strikes on August 18 and 20. Several thousand TSSA members at Network Rail and seven train operators will also take action on the day. The lack of signals will allow only around a fifth of the usual timetable to run on strike days, with services not expected to resume properly until late morning in the coming days. Transport in London will also be disrupted on the day between national rail strikes on August 19, when RMT members and some Unite members at Transport for London and London Overground will go on strike. Most London Underground and London services in the capital will not run. Parts of the city will also be without buses as 1,600 drivers in west London in the Unite union go on strike for two days from August 19.
