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The strike, which is taking place on the last day of the Conservative Party conference, is affecting 13 companies...
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The i
2022-10-05T06:38:34Z
Members of the train drivers’ unions ASLEF and the Transport Salaried Staff Association (TSSA) are involved in the 24-hour walk-out.
The strike, which is taking place on the last day of the Conservative Party conference, is affecting 13 companies.
That includes: 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.
No trains will be running on Northern, Southeastern and Avanti West Coast rail lines.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We’ve had no pay rises for three years, while the people we work for have made hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
He said ASLEF wanted to negotiate, but that employers at the rail companies can’t make pay offers due to restrictions in contracts they signed with the Department of Transport.
“The real problem we have is when we talk to the companies they say talk to the Government, and when we talk to the Government, they say talk to the companies.”
After a summer tainted by travel chaos, commuters and other rail passengers are continuing to face rail disruption this autumn with another RMT union strike scheduled for this Saturday, October 8.
RMT represents all rail workers including guards and signalling staff and the action is likely to cause widespread disruption as it includes employees working for Network Rail across England, Scotland and Wales.
Localised strikes by TSSA members will impact CrossCountry services on Wednesday, Great Western Railway routes on 6 October and Avanti and c2c services on Saturday, October 8.
It comes after the biggest walkout of the year last Saturday saw large parts of the UK cut off entirely and affected people trying to travel to the London Marathon, which took place on Sunday.
A Department of Transport spokesperson said it was “incredibly disappointing” that for the second time in five days people and businesses faced disruption on railways, and risked not being able to travel to work, school or doctors’ appointments.
“Our railway is in desperate need of modernisation but all more strikes will do is punish the very people unions claim to stand up for and push passengers further away.
“We urge union bosses to reconsider this divisive action and instead work with their employers, not against them, to agree a new way forward.”