Rail strikes to start again TOMORROW: Passengers face yet more travel chaos as union boss says members are 'in this for the long haul' - with more action planned for this weekend
- Further travel chaos expected Wednesday as rail workers prepare to strike again
- London Overground, Avanti Westcoast and CrossCountry lines to be impacted
- Union bosses say they will continue to strike until a resolution - potentially impacting Christmas and New Year travel plans
- It comes after 54,000 staff walked off the job ahead of the London Marathon
Britons have been warned to prepare for more travel chaos on Wednesday as staff walk off the job again as part of the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and work conditions.
Members of the drivers' union Aslef and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) will strike in a move which is expected to cause huge disruption to services.
The dispute will continue until the Government intervenes, Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan told PA today.
He urged Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan to 'lift the shackles' from train companies so they could make a pay offer to disgruntled workers.
'The message I am receiving from my members is that they are in this for the long haul and if anything they want industrial action to be increased,' he said.
Britons have been warned to prepare for more travel chaos on Wednesday as staff walk off the job again as part of the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and work conditions
Signs detailing the strike action were erected in stations across London on Saturday, warning of disruptions later in the week
Members of the Aslef, RMT and TSSA unions are all involved in the planned walkouts (pictured, staff striking earlier in the week)
Empty stations and signs warning of severe disruption were seen across the country during the most recent strike, on October 1
The train drivers' strike will affect Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains, Greater Anglia (including Stansted Express), Great Western, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Northern Trains, Southeastern, Transpennine Express and West Midlands Trains.
Members of the TSSA will strike at CrossCountry and take other forms of industrial action at several other operators.
The TSSA is also planning industrial action on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at more than a dozen train companies and Network Rail will strike on Saturday.
Passengers are advised to check before they travel on Wednesday and allow extra time for their journey.
Train companies not involved in the strike will be running as usual, but these services are expected to be busy.
Services are also likely to be disrupted in the early morning of Thursday as workers return to duties.
The disruption will affect football fixtures and the final day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Daniel Mann, director of industry operations at the Rail Delivery Group, said: 'These strikes disrupt the travel plans of millions of passengers and undermine businesses who continue to struggle with rising costs and this continued action will only further damage the railway's recovery.
'While some rail companies are not involved in the strike, services are likely to be busy, severely disrupted or in some cases not running, so passengers should check the latest travel advice before setting off.
'Passengers with advance, off-peak or anytime tickets affected by the strikes on 5 October can use their ticket on the day before the booked date, or up to and including 7 October.
'Passengers can also change their tickets to travel on an alternate date or get a refund if their train is cancelled or rescheduled.'
It comes days after 54,000 rail workers walked off the job this weekend, sparking chaos for the 50,000 people who flocked to the city for the London Marathon and 200,000 spectators who attended football games.
Striking workers and protesters gather outside a train station in Leeds amidst the ongoing dispute between unions and train bosses over pay on October 1
The strikes will cause chaos for rail passengers as services get back up and running after repeated walkouts
Members of the TSSA and RMT unions stand on one of the many picket lines around the UK on October 1. Unions have warned staff are 'in it for the long haul' and will strike again on Wednesday
The move left travellers frustrated, with some blasting the unions for penalising the 'kindest folk, charities and the people they are helping'.
Others branded them 'vile selfish bullies' for striking on the eve of one of the biggest events in the capital's calendar.
Total travel meltdown was avoided after planned strike action by bus drivers was called off. Members of Unite employed by Arriva in North London secured an improved pay offer of 11%, the union said on Friday.
Millions of travellers could also be left stranded over Christmas as militant union bosses pledge to 'get creative' with more walkouts.
Unions threatened to cause travel woe at one of the busiest times of the year if its long-running dispute with Network Rail and the Government drags into December.
Signs at a picket line in central London today as around 50,000 rail workers walk out in a 24-hour strike
Millions of travellers could also be left stranded over Christmas as militant union bosses pledge to 'get creative' with more walkouts
Eddie Dempsey, assistant secretary at the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, and his boss, general secretary Mick Lynch, have both said they will urge members to strike over Christmas if no settlement is reached.
Mr Dempsey told The Mirror: 'We're in it until we win it. It'll affect Christmas.
'The way things are, we're going to have to get creative. I won't let the cat out of the bag, but we will alter our industrial position if we don't see some movement in the next short period.
'Strikes will go on until we get a settlement. We don't want to continue strikes through Christmas, but if there is no settlement they will continue.'
Members of the Aslef rail union stand outside Newcastle's Central station holding signs saying they worked throughout the pandemic
Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef said that his members were increasingly angry at the lack of progress in the dispute
Most watched News videos
- Schoolboy learns his fate for beating up tiny female school aide
- Moment police arrest Britain's oldest rioter William Morgan
- Moment golden retriever crushes three-year-old girl to death
- Furious Putin is told Ukrainian soldiers have crossed Russian border
- Radio station and shopping mall shake during Japan earthquake
- Japan earthquake shakes homes after sparking tsunami warning
- Before and after: Man's life changed by new Parkinson's treatment
- Moment CTSFO police use flashbangs to raid in West Kensington
- Thousands gather for counter-protest against far-right in Belfast
- Rioters torch Spellow library in Liverpool destroying hundred of books
- 'Drunk' rioter lobs metal sheeting at cops in Hartlepool
- Huge container ship erupts into fireball while docked in China port