Commuters will experience significant travel disruption today and over the weekend due to a new rail workers’ strike over pay.
Services will begin later and end earlier than usual, with some localities experiencing no train service at all.
The strike began over a year ago and shows no indications of abating anytime soon.
Aslef members will also ban overtime on Saturday, which coincides with a walkout by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union over pay, jobs, and conditions.
The unions blame the government for refusing to make an offer they can’t recommend to their members.
Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, said: ‘We don’t want to take this action but the train companies, and the government which stands behind them, have forced us into this place because they refuse to sit down and talk to us and have not made a fair and sensible pay offer to train drivers who have not had one for four years – since 2019 – while prices have soared in that time by more than 12%.
‘The government appears happy to let passengers – and businesses – suffer in the mistaken belief that they can bully us into submission. They don’t care about passengers – or Britain’s railway – but they will not break us.
‘Train drivers at these companies have not had a pay rise for four years – since 2019 – while inflation has rocketed. We haven’t heard a word from the employers – we haven’t had a meeting, a phone call, a text message, or an email – since Wednesday April 26, and we haven’t had any contact with the government since Friday January 6.
Which train companies are affected by the striketoday?
- Avanti West Coast
- c2c
- Chiltern Railways
- CrossCountry (also affected by separate action on Saturday, 9 September)
- East Midlands Railway
- Gatwick Express
- Great Northern
- Great Western Railway
- Greater Anglia
- Heathrow Express
- Island Line (ASLEF strike only)
- London Northwestern Railway
- LNER
- Northern
- South Western Railway
- Southeastern
- Southern
- Stansted Express
- Thameslink
- TransPennine Express
- Transport for Wales (not on strike, but service changes on some routes)
- West Midlands Railway
Source: National Rail Enquiries
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group said: ‘Further strike action by the Aslef leadership is unnecessary and will cause more disruption to passengers looking to enjoy the end of the summer holidays.
‘The union leadership has its head in the sand and refuses to put our fair and reasonable offer to their members. The offer would increase the average driver base salary for a four-day week without overtime from £60,000 to nearly £65,000 by the end of 2023.
‘We want to give our staff a pay increase, but it has always been linked to implementing necessary, sensible reforms that would enhance services for our customers.