Train strikes: Travellers facing disruption as rail workers walk out

Train passengers are facing different time of disruption arsenic up to 20,000 obstruction workers successful the RMT national locomotion retired for the 2nd Saturday successful a row.

It is portion of a long-running quality astir pay, jobs and moving conditions.

About fractional of the accustomed services are expected to tally crossed the network, and immoderate volition decorativeness earlier than usual.

The RMT says it is waiting to beryllium invited backmost to the negotiating table. The authorities says the national should enactment an existing connection to RMT members.

With galore schools crossed the UK connected their six-week summertime holidays, the onslaught could disrupt household vacation travel.

Cricket fans travelling to the 5th Ashes Test astatine The Oval successful London whitethorn besides look delays.

At London's Euston railway station, immoderate travellers told the BBC they had immoderate sympathy for obstruction workers, arsenic others spoke of their vexation arsenic they tried to marque alternate plans.

The operators affected are based successful England, but immoderate tally services into Wales and Scotland. They include:

Kate Nicholls, from the commercialized assemblage UK Hospitality, said commercialized "falls disconnected a cliff" successful towns and metropolis centres crossed the UK each time determination is simply a obstruction strike.

She estimated that astir £340m worthy of income successful the UK had been mislaid implicit the past week during 3 onslaught days and a drivers' overtime ban.

Saturday's enactment is the past onslaught successful the diary and unions person to springiness astatine slightest 14 days' announcement of immoderate further onslaught action.

However, adjacent week Aslef, the bid drivers' union, has an overtime prohibition scheduled, which volition besides impact services.

Asked erstwhile the concern enactment was going to end, the RMT's wide caput Mick Lynch said: "We don't know. We've got a authorities who won't negotiate."

He told BBC's Breakfast amusement that workers had not had a wage emergence for 4 years, but that the much pressing contented was occupation cuts.

"They've fixed maine statutory notices for 2,300 of our members leaving the industry. They are past going to determination connected to catering and engineering and different workers successful the manufacture truthful the contiguous happening is occupation security," helium said.

"When we've concluded those things, we would similar a wage emergence that addresses the outgo of surviving crisis," helium said, but declined to enactment a fig connected it. "There are a batch of issues to woody with but they tin beryllium resolved reasonably sensibly if they travel to the array with bully will."

Josh Coe, from the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the 14 affected bid companies, said: "We've been negotiating with the leaders of the RMT present for implicit a twelvemonth and it's a existent shame that the connection we made to them worthy 13% successful presumption of an summation successful wage for the lowest paid is not being enactment to their rank which would person brought this concern quality to an end."

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "The authorities has met the obstruction unions, listened to them and facilitated improved offers connected wage and reform.

"The national leaders should enactment these just and tenable offers to their members truthful this quality tin beryllium resolved."

The RMT's elder adjunct wide caput Eddie Dempsey said this greeting that the national had already held a "mass consultation" with its members connected the offer, "and they gave america their presumption which was that they wanted to cull the connection and spot an improvement".

The national was truthful "not going to enactment an connection to our members that we've already rejected", helium said.

If thing changes, the RMT could docket much strikes until November, erstwhile it would person to re-ballot members.

The mean wage of obstruction workers successful 2022 was £45,919, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Excluding drivers - who thin to beryllium members of the Aslef union, not RMT - its estimation is £39,518.

However, the RMT national said that fig was excessively precocious due to the fact that it did not see obstruction cleaning staff.