RMT members to stage first of four planned 24-hour strikes across UK
Train services around Britain will be severely disrupted again as RMT members at 14 train operators stage the first of four planned 24-hour strikes.
Passengers have been urged to check before travel on Thursday and are being told to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary, with most affected operators ending remaining services by early evening.
Train operators said they would “pull out all the stops” with contingency staff to keep as much running as possible. About 40-50% of trains are expected to run overall, but with wide regional variations, and some of the operators in England running no trains at all on parts of their networks.
Thursday’s strike does not involve RMT members at Network Rail, who suspended planned industrial action pending a referendum on a pay deal, reducing the impact for some passengers.
Operators in Wales and Scotland are not involved directly but cross-border services to and from London and the rest of England will be reduced. Intercity routes operated by LNER will be severely reduced, with last trains departing in the early afternoon, while Avanti, GWR and East Midlands will run hourly intercity services.
Others operators such as Northern, TransPennine and Chiltern will not run trains to key stops on their normal network. However, C2C and parts of Greater Anglia will remain largely unaffected.
Disruption could persist early on Friday, while a second strike will take place on Saturday. The industry body, the Rail Delivery Group, urged passengers to check before they travel for updates, with last trains on the evenings before strike days and early trains on the mornings after the strikes also liable to be affected.
Two further stoppages are planned by RMT train staff in a fortnight’s time, on 30
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