Rail passengers, including those hoping to go to the Epsom Derby or the FA Cup final, face more disruption this week, with the two main unions striking in their seemingly intractable disputes over pay.
Train drivers at 15 train operating companies (TOCs) who are members of the ASLEF union will be on strike on Wednesday and Saturday (3 June) with RMT members employed by TOCS walking out on Friday.
ASLEF has also imposed an overtime ban on Thursday 1 June.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents TOCs, said it is expected that nationally services will be severely reduced with variations across the network and no services at all in some areas.
On Friday, the RMT strike day, around half of the network will shut down, with around 50% of normal services running.
On Wednesday and Saturday, Aslef strike days, around 40% of trains will be running but there will be wide regional variations with some operators running no services at all.
The RDG said it is likely that evening services on some lines will be affected on the days before each strike, so passengers should also check the last train times on the evenings before strike days and the mornings following strikes.
A spokesperson said: ’The upcoming rail strikes called by the Aslef and RMT leadership will not only affect our passengers' daily commute, but will also impact those travelling from to the FA Cup final and other events across the country, causing disappointment and frustration for tens of thousands of people.’
Aslef pointed out that its members have been in dispute with these TOCs for almost a year over ‘the failure of management to offer a fair deal on pay’, adding that most of the drivers involved have not had a pay increase at all since 2019.
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