Staff at Avanti West Coast, which runs services from London to the North West, Wales and Scotland, are on strike (Picture: AFP)
Another day of rail misery lies ahead for thousands of passengers today as strikes hit one of the country’s busiest routes.
Avanti West Coast workers have walked out for 24 hours in a dispute over staffing, the latest in a run of high-profile industrial actions carried out by the Rail, Maritime and Train (RMT) union this year.
Customers were warned services will be ‘significantly reduced’ and advised all passengers to check before travelling.
Just one train an hour will run from London Euston to each of Manchester, Glasgow, and Liverpool.
Upgrades being carried out by Network Rail have added to the disruption, meaning passengers heading to Liverpool will need to go via the West Midlands.
Avanti West Coast is running a reduced timetable, with the first train of the day leaving Euston just before 7.30am and the last train of the day set to depart mid-afternoon.
The significantly reduced timetable means North Wales, Shrewsbury, Chester, Blackpool and Edinburgh will have no services at all.
Services heading north from Euston Station in London are badly impacted (Picture: EPA)
The train managers involved in the dispute will also strike on November 6.
The RMT said staff were suffering ‘dreadfully low morale’ and were feeling ‘completely neglected’ as the company increases services after being criticised for reducing its timetable in the summer.
General secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘Avanti continue to be totally unreasonable in negotiations and seem incapable of taking responsibility for the mess they have caused.
‘They show little concern for the health and safety of our members as some of their rostering proposals would lead to unacceptable levels of fatigue amongst train managers.
‘This strike is the end result of months of neglect and the only way our train managers feel they can voice their concerns.
‘Avanti should never have been given any extension to their franchise contract for all the chaos they have caused the travelling public.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has been at the centre of a series of strikes this year (Picture: Zuma/Shutterstock)
‘We remain open for meaningful talks to resolve the dispute but be in no doubt our industrial campaign will continue for as long as it takes.’
Barry Milsom, executive director of Operations and Safety at Avanti West Coast, said: ‘We’re disappointed by the RMT’s decision to go on strike this Saturday and again on November 6.
‘Our customers are facing another weekend of disruption and I would like to thank them for their continued patience and understanding.
‘We all need to be working together for the long-term benefit of our people and customers.
‘So, we ask RMT to engage in meaningful industry reform talks around modernising working practices and developing a railway fit for the 21st century.’
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It’s the latest in a series of strikes to bring services grinding to a halt this year.
