A 24-hour strike by drivers at nine operating companies will leave large parts of Britain without services on Saturday, in the latest mass action against rail pay and working conditions.
The Aslef union has warned that striking drivers are “here for the long haul” ahead of the action, which will ground most intercity trains on routes between London and the Midlands, northern England and Scotland and affect trains in many other parts of Britain.
The action by the drivers is the first of a week of strikes by four separate transport unions which will seriously disrupt rail services across the country from next Thursday.
The rail industry has warned passengers to avoid traveling on affected routes on Saturday and be prepared for very busy trains and possible last-minute changes or cancellations, with disruptions expected to continue into the early hours of Sunday.
The striking drivers are those who work for Arriva Rail London, Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, Great Western, Hull Trains, LNER, West Midlands Trains and Southeastern.
There will be no London Overground, CrossCountry, Southeastern, West Midlands and London Northwestern Railway or Avanti West Coast trains. Extremely limited services will run on Greater Anglia (including Stansted Express), Great Western, Hull Trains and the LNER.
Aslef leader Mick Whelan said further shutdowns could follow Saturday, the union’s second day of co-ordinated strikes this summer, and with two more strike votes to come, “we may have more operators on strike next time”.
Steve Montgomery, the chairman of the Rail Delivery Group, said earlier this week that “the open invitation for talks with Aslef stands”.
He added: “Rail is too important to this country to allow a decline, but with passenger numbers still 20% below pre-pandemic levels, securing a bright future means we need to adapt to bring more people back .”
Whelan said he was open to further talks, but added: “I’ve never been in a situation before where a cartel of companies has agreed through the back door with the government that they’re going to cap our pay. We talk to people who don’t have the freedom to deal with us.
He said the government had launched “wages threats to train drivers” before the dispute, but wages had been negotiated with companies for many years after privatisation.
“People say anyone can [drive trains] – no, no one can do that. An awful lot of people fail their driving test and driving test – and they don’t like getting up at 3.10am for an 11-hour shift or working 70-80% of weekends away from their families.’
But he said: “The idea that we’re going to be stigmatized and flogged doesn’t work.” While others, such as lawyers, police and nurses, are threatening strikes, he said: “You have a national political problem.”
Drivers were overwhelmingly behind the strike, Whelan said: “Like many people who stood up to be counted during the pandemic, they feel resentful of a government that cheered them on and now seems to want to shower them with pain.”
“We’re leaving tomorrow… People are very ready and understand that we may be here for a long time. We don’t want to be, but there is an acknowledgment that this may not be resolved quickly.”
One of the controversial companies, Avanti West Coast, has already cut schedules for a month because of the few drivers who volunteer to work on the day off, in what it has publicly described as an “unofficial strike” – joining Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who Asleff has previously condemned as “lying” drivers who chose not to work overtime.
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Whelan said: “When someone is stupid enough to lie about it, they lose even more goodwill and it takes even longer to convince them [staff] back.”
Labor said ministers should urgently demand a plan from Avanti to restore services. Shadow transport secretary Louise Hay said: “If a private operator can’t fulfill its contract, it has no business keeping it.”
The Department for Transport said Avanti’s move was “inevitable”. A spokesman said: “This is a prime example of why we need to modernize our railways so that passengers benefit from reliable timetables that don’t rely on the goodwill of drivers who volunteer to work overtime in the first place.”
Avanti declined to comment, but the DfT is understood to have approved its reduced timetable, which has cut the number of trains between London, Birmingham and Manchester by two-thirds by September. Avanti will not be penalized and will continue to receive fees as Shapps considers the move to be the result of strike action.
More widespread disruption is looming, with 40,000 members of the RMT union at Network Rail and 14 train operators staging two 24-hour strikes on August 18 and 20, when several thousand TSSA members at Network Rail and seven train operators will also take actions.
The absence of signalers will allow only about a fifth of the usual timetable to be run.
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Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haynes said: “It saddens me that we once again have to ask passengers to stay off the rail for two days next week due to unnecessary strike action when we should be helping them enjoy their summers.
“We have made a good and fair offer, but apart from our TSSA management grades who have accepted the deal, our unions are refusing to let our employees have a say.”
RMT members and some Unite members at Transport for London and London Overground will also strike on August 19, halting most Tube services in the capital.
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