Members of the Aslef union at nine train companies began a 24-hour strike on Saturday morning, leaving some parts of the country without services. Football fans, tourists and holidaymakers were among the tens of thousands of passengers affected. While companies not participating in the strike continued to run trains, they were busier than normal. The industrial action will also affect services running on Sunday morning, with those planning to travel asked to consider starting their journey later in the day. It comes ahead of further industrial action planned in the coming weeks amid worsening disputes over jobs, pay and conditions. Ashlef picketed outside train stations, with officials saying they expected continued support from the public despite the impact of the action. The companies affected by the strike are Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western Railway, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains. Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said rail companies were unable to offer a pay rise without permission from the Department for Transport and warned that unless progress was made soon in the long-running dispute, more strikes were likely to be called. ‘Catch-22 Situation’ “We don’t want to go on strike – strikes are always a last resort – but the companies and the government forced our hand,” he said. “We don’t want to inconvenience passengers because our friends and families also use public transport, because we believe in building trust in rail in Britain and because we don’t want to lose money by taking industrial action. “Companies have said they can’t or won’t give our members a raise. “They’re blaming the government … while the government is saying it’s up to the train operators. So we’re in a Catch-22 situation where each side is blaming the other.” Ashlef said the drivers who are on strike Saturday have not received pay increases in three years. The union is also balloting Chiltern Railways, Northern Trains and TransPennine Express drivers for strike action, with results expected later this month. Steve Montgomery, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group, criticized Aslef’s leadership for imposing “even more uncertainty” and said he had an “open invitation” for talks with them. “Rail is too important to this country to allow it to fall,” he said, “but, with passenger numbers still 20% below pre-pandemic levels, ensuring a bright future means we must adapt for to attract more people back.” He added: “We’re inviting Aslef to come to the table so we can fund the pay rise we want to give our people, while delivering the Sunday service improvements and greater punctuality our passengers deserve.” Earlier this summer, the RMT strike became the biggest UK rail strike in 30 years. Members of the RMT and TSSA unions will strike on August 18 and 20, while on August 19 action will be taken by Underground and London Bus drivers. “Totally False” Meanwhile, the row continued to rage over cuts to Avadi’s West Coast Sunday services, which the company and Transport Secretary Grand Sapps blamed on unofficial actions by Aslef, which the union strongly denied. A Department for Transport spokesman said of the timetable changes announced by the company: “People deserve certainty and confidence that their train will run on time and while this movement was unavoidable, it should minimize the impact on passengers . “This is a prime example of why we need to modernize our railways so passengers benefit from reliable services that don’t rely on the goodwill of drivers volunteering to work overtime in the first place.” The Department for Transport said it was “completely false” to claim the government was blocking negotiations. “We have said from the start that we are urging unions and industry to agree a deal that is fair to rail staff, passengers and taxpayers.” The department pointed out that £16bn was spent to keep the railway running during the height of the pandemic, adding that without this support there was a risk that companies would have collapsed and thousands of jobs would have been lost. Rail workers have seen above-average pay rises over the past decade, with their wages rising by around 25% from £35,000 in 2011 to £44,000 in 2021, the department said, adding that pay rises for rail staff they must be “fair and consistent with the wider public sector”.
Services affected this weekend
Avanti West Coast: All services have been cancelled. Chiltern Railways: “Strongly” advises customers to avoid traveling unless they do, given the negative impact from other operators. Busy trains, short notice cancellations and possible delays. A reduced service of one train per hour runs on the Aylesbury Vale Parkway – Marylebone route from midday to 8pm. CrossCountry: No services on Saturday. Gatwick Express: Although its drivers are unimpressive, services are likely to be ‘affected’ due to industrial action at London Overground and Southeastern. Great Western Railway: A limited service will operate between Bristol Temple Meads – London, Paddington. Reading – Oxford? Reading – Basingstoke. Schedules will start later and end earlier than normal. Greater Anglia: Tells customers to avoid traveling on “heavily reduced and disrupted” service. One train per hour will run in each direction between London and Norwich. London – Colchester? Southend Victoria – Liverpool Street; Liverpool Street – Stansted Airport. Heathrow Express: All services have been cancelled. Hull Trains: A “significantly reduced” timetable is running, consisting of one route to and from King’s Cross. London North Eastern Railway: No trains run north from Edinburgh Waverley, while southbound trains are limited to one every two hours. No trains run north from Leeds, while only one train runs south to London King’s Cross. One northbound train hourly runs from King’s Cross, while one northbound train and one southbound train run every two hours from Newcastle. London Northwestern Railway: No services. Northern: Although services are running as normal, strikes affecting other operators could make trains busier than normal. South East: All services have been cancelled. Southern: Its drivers are not involved in the Aslef strike, but services may be “affected” due to disruption on London Overground and Southeastern. Stansted Express: Advising customers to avoid traveling on Saturday. One train in each direction runs between Stansted Airport and London Liverpool Street every hour. The engineering work means there will be a bus on the journey between Waltham Cross and Harlow Town. Transport for Wales: Although not directly affected by the strikes, services are likely to be affected by the reduced timetable of other operators. Customers have been advised to avoid non-essential travel between Carmarthen – Newport. Cardiff – Lydney? Shrewsbury v Wolverhampton? and the North Wales coast, as trains are expected to run. West Midlands Railway: No services on Saturday.
