Football fans and families travelling to weekend leisure events will be among those affected (Picture: Metro.co.uk)
Train passengers face a weekend of travel misery as rail workers strike again in the long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at 14 train operators will walk out on Saturday, crippling services across the country.
Passengers were warned to check before they travel, with trains due to start later and finish much earlier than usual – typically between 7.30am and 6.30pm.
It is expected that nationally between 40% and 50% of train services will run but there will be wide variations across the network, with no services at all in some areas.
RMT members went on strike on Thursday and more stoppages are planned on March 30 and April 1 (Picture: Hesther Ng/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)
The RMT said that more than 20,000 workers will be taking strike action unless there is a negotiated settlement (Picture: EPA)
Services may also be disrupted on Sunday morning because much of the rolling stock will not be in the right depots.
Football fans and families travelling to weekend leisure events will be among those affected.
RMT members went on strike on Thursday and more stoppages are planned on March 30 and April 1.
How will the latest rail strikes affect each train operator?
Train services are being hit by strike action again.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at train operators will walk out in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions on Saturday.
Many operators will only run trains for limited hours.
Those not involved in the dispute will see no major impact, but their services could be busier than normal due to timetable cuts elsewhere.
Here is a breakdown of each operator’s plan:
– Avanti West Coast
One train per hour will run in both directions between London Euston and each of Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Preston.
A limited service will operate to and from Glasgow.
– c2c
No major impact.
– Caledonian Sleeper
No major impact.
– Chiltern Railways
No trains will run north of Banbury.
There will be one train per hour in both directions between London Marylebone and each of Aylesbury/Aylesbury Vale Parkway, Banbury and Oxford.
– CrossCountry
No direct services will run to and from Birmingham New Street and locations such as Cambridge, Cardiff, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth and Stansted Airport.
– East Midlands Railway
Just one train per hour will run in each direction between Leicester and each of Lincoln, Nottingham and Sheffield, and between London St Pancras and both Kettering and Corby.
There will be the same frequency between Derby and Matlock; and between Nottingham and each of Derby, Sheffield, Mansfield Woodhouse and Grantham.
– Elizabeth line
Services will start later than normal.
– Gatwick Express
There will be no services but Southern will run trains between Gatwick Airport and London Bridge.
– Grand Central
No major impact.
– Great Northern
There will be very few trains, with no services east of Ely to King’s Lynn.
– Great Western Railway
Trains will run between London Paddington and each of Bristol Parkway, Cardiff, Exeter via Bristol Temple Meads, Newbury and Oxford.
The only other routes open will be between West Ealing and Greenford, Slough and Windsor, Maidenhead and Marlow, Twyford and Henley, Reading and Basingstoke, Cardiff and Westbury, and Plymouth and Newton Abbot.
– Greater Anglia
Some routes will have a reduced frequency, but many will have a normal or near-normal service.
– Heathrow Express
No major impact.
– Hull Trains
No major impact.
– London North Eastern Railway (LNER)
A limited timetable will be in operation.
This includes the London King’s Cross-Edinburgh route having a total of just 16 trains across both directions.
– London Northwestern Railway
A limited timetable will operate only on these routes: between Birmingham New Street and each of Northampton via Coventry, Birmingham International via local stations, and Crewe.
Services will also run between London Euston and Northampton.
– London Overground
No major impact.
– Lumo
No major impact.
– Merseyrail
No major impact.
– Northern
Trains will only run between Leeds and each of York, Hebden Bridge, Ilkley, Skipton, Sheffield and Bradford Forster Square, and between Darlington and Saltburn, and Liverpool and Manchester Airport.
– ScotRail
No major impact.
– South Western Railway
There will be a significantly reduced service and only between London Waterloo and both Hounslow and Woking, and between Basingstoke and Southampton, Guildford and Woking, and Salisbury and Basingstoke.
– Southeastern
No trains will run on the vast majority of the network in Kent and East Sussex.
There will be two trains per hour in each direction for most of Saturday on these lines: Bexleyheath, Bromley North, Bromley South, Sidcup and Woolwich.
On the high speed line there will be two trains per hour to and from Ashford International and four per hour to and from Ebbsfleet International.
On the Sevenoaks line there will be two trains per hour to and from Sevenoaks and four per hour to and from Orpington.
– Southern
Due to engineering work there will be very few local stopping services in south London.
No trains will serve Clapham Junction or Victoria, with most diverted to London Bridge.
– Stansted Express
Services will run between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport from 7am to 11pm.
– Thameslink
Services will be split north and south, with nothing running between London St Pancras and London Bridge.
– TransPennine Express
A reduced timetable will operate and only on these routes: between Huddersfield and York, Manchester Airport and Preston, and Cleethorpes and Sheffield.
– Transport for Wales
Transport for Wales is not involved in the industrial action but some of its services will be extremely busy due to other operators running reduced timetables.
– West Midlands Railway
A limited timetable will operate only on these routes: between Lichfield Trent Valley and Redditch/Bromsgrove via Birmingham New Street, and between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton via local stations.
Steve Montgomery, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), said: ‘This latest round of strikes will be a further inconvenience to our customers, who have already experienced months of disruption, and cost our people even more money at a time they can least afford it.
‘They will also be asking why the RMT leadership blocked the chance to resolve this dispute by refusing to give their members – many of whom would have benefited from a 13% increase – a say on their own deal.
‘Unfortunately, while we will pull out all the stops to keep as many trains running as possible, there will be reduced services across many parts of the rail network on strike days, so our advice is to check before you travel.
‘Tickets for March 30 and April 1 can be used the day before, or up to and including Tuesday, April 4.’
The RMT said that more than 20,000 workers will be taking strike action unless there is a negotiated settlement.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), joins union members on the picket line outside Euston station (Picture: PA)
General secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘The private rail companies are in complete chaos, unable to make an improved offer to resolve our dispute and demonstrably failing to run the railways when we’re not on strike.
‘FirstGroup in particular is like an out-of-control wrecking ball, only fit to make money for its City bosses.
‘Avanti and TransPennine Express are both an abject disgrace but their owners made £90 million out of the railways in dividends over the last two years despite running appalling levels of service.
‘The RDG need to sort themselves out and settle our dispute with an improved offer and then the Government needs to nationalise both Avanti and TransPennine Express.
‘They are incapable of providing a decent service to passengers and the sooner they are brought into public ownership the better.’
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Football fans and families travelling to weekend leisure events will be among those worst affected.Â
