Railway passengers affected by strikes scheduled for the end of June will receive a refund for the tickets they bought, said the head of the branch body representing the railway companies.
“If we can’t provide service to our customers due to a strike, we will reimburse customers,” said Steve Montgomery, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group (RDG).
“We need to go and get a set of guidelines for people and how it will work, but we will be very flexible,” added Montgomery, who is also managing director of First Rail, on BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
Railway workers belonging to the Union of Railway, Maritime and Transport (RMT) will organize departures on June 21, 23 and 25, which is expected to close much of the national railway system for a week.
RDG seeks to give advice to customers who intend to travel during the strike week, such as recommending travel the day before or after departure, according to Montgomery. He also called on RMT to hold talks to “solve” the problem.
Tory MP Hugh Merriman, chairman of the parliamentary election commission on transport, called on the government to introduce legislation that would require a minimum rail service even during strikes.
In the Conservative Party manifesto in 2019, it was proposed to have a minimum service obligation so that trains run, as they do in France, Italy, Spain, during strikes, where one third to one fifth of the trains run. “Meriman said today.
“This legislation has not been introduced, so without it it will be difficult to negotiate with the unions if the trains stop.
The planned industrial campaign – after a successful vote of 40,000 Network Rail members and 13 companies operating trains last month – is set to begin on Tuesday, June 21 and continue on alternating days until Saturday, covering some of the busiest days of the week for the railroad after the pandemic rules eased.
It will also take place during a week of major cultural events, including the Glastonbury Festival, the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester and a concert at London’s Rolling Stones Hyde Park, as well as two additional parliamentary elections.
The departure will also affect the railway’s largest open-air exhibition, Rail Live, scheduled for June 22-23 in Warwickshire.
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Mandatory redundancies among railway workers are not yet threatened by either Network Rail or train operators, but as passenger numbers remain well below pre-Covid levels, companies are aiming to make up to £ 2 billion in annual savings.
RMT said the railway companies had not given any guarantees against layoffs, while many of its members’ salaries were frozen during the pandemic and no wage increases have yet been offered.
Railway companies and RMT have said they want to negotiate to try to avoid ongoing strikes.
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