he head of Britain’s largest rail union warned train strikes could go on for months on Tuesday as a fresh 48-hour walkout caused misery for commuters.
Mick Lynch said the RMT had a mandate to take action up until May, but warned: “If we have to go further, that’s what we’ll need to do.”
However Network Rail’s chief negotiator said that a deal to stop rail strikes is in “touching distance”.
Rail passengers suffered fresh travel disruption with 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 14 train operators staging a 48-hour walkout, with another to follow on Friday, while drivers in the Aslef union will strike on Thursday.
Picket lines were again mounted outside railway stations across the country in a repeat of what became a familiar sight last year.
Passengers, including those returning to work after the festive break, are being warned to expect “significant disruption” as only a limited number of trains will run.
The advice is to only travel if absolutely necessary, allow extra time and check when first and last trains will depart.
On RMT strike days, around half of the network will shut down, with only about 20% of normal services running.
Trains that do run will start later and finish much earlier than usual – with services typically running between 7.30am and 6.30pm on the day of the strike.
The Elizabeth Line is also disrupted with no service betwen Paddington and Heathrow/Reading and Liverpool Street to Shenfield. London Overground services have also been hit along with parts of the Bakerloo and District lines.
Live updates
What rail strikes have already been announced for January?
Today’s action is set to be followed by further walkouts throughout the week. Here is an overview of when rail services are set to be disrupted due to strikes in the next few weeks, as well as some London bus services run by Abelio.
Services from trains to health will be hit by walkouts in January and beyond.
Here are some of the strikes planned:
– January 3
RMT members at Network Rail launch fresh strikes.
– January 4
The RMT rail workers’ strike continues.
In addition, some London bus workers at Abellio to go on strike.
– January 5
Train workers at 15 operators with the Aslef union to stage a 24-hour walkout.
London bus workers at Abellio to go on strike again.
– January 6
RMT rail workers will stage another 48-hour strike.
– January 7
The RMT rail workers’ walkout continues.
– January 10
London bus workers at Abellio to go on strike.
– January 12
Workers on London’s Elizabeth line will go on strike.
London bus workers at Abellio will also stage industrial action.
– January 16
London bus workers at Abellio will go on strike.
– January 19
London bus workers at Abellio will go on strike.
– January 25
London bus workers at Abellio will go on strike.
– January 26
London bus workers at Abellio will continue strike.
Suspensions and severe delays ongoing in latest TfL update
RMT claps back at Edwina Curry who claimed AI would make unions ‘redundant’
Edwina Curry provoked the RMT into a response after sharing claims a deal could be close to end the strike.
The first of five strikes began today.
Strikes will go beyond May ‘unless reasonable offer made’ – union
Mick Lynch has said industrial action will need to continue beyond May unless a reasonable offer is made to the RMT.
Speaking from a picket line at Euston station in London, he said: “They (the strikes) are likely to go ahead if there’s no offer that we can work on.
“We would like to get into a situation where we’re negotiating constantly with the companies and where we didn’t have to have strike action, and then work up a settlement that our members could vote on and accept.
“But if we don’t get that there will have to be more action, and we’ve got a mandate that runs through to May this year, and if we have to go further, that’s what we’ll need to do. We don’t want that, though.”
He added: “Our members are taking action right across the country, from the north of Scotland to the tip of Cornwall. The railway service has ground to a halt and it will be severely disrupted this week – we don’t take any pleasure in that.”
Rail strikes ‘totally selfish’, say stranded commuters
Other commuters have spoken of how they have been prevented from getting to work over the strikes, writes John Dunne.
Lydia Sweeney, a 21-year-old hairdresser, said: “It’s all very well the train strikers stopping work over pay but I don’t earn a lot and they are either stopping me getting to work or making me late every day. There’s a cost of living crisis for all of us not just them. It’s totally selfish.”
Aisha Bhati, a 26-year-old student, said: “I need to get to college. I’m training to work in the NHS so I can do something worthwhile and these strikes are making life more difficult. I’m in favour of the nurses’ strike but I think the rail workers striking over Christmas and New Year has not helped their cause.”
Meanwhile, Monica and Mark Sheppard had been in London with her daughter Isabella after travelling down from Hull. They had booked to go to the Warner Bros Harry Potter Experience in Watford and were desperately trying to get a train.
Mr Sheppard said: “We are still hoping to get there, Isabella has been looking forward to it but the strike has made it a stressful journey. We don’t want to let her down.”
Isabella aged 8 at Euston Station morning during the train strike
/ Jeremy Selwyn‘Nightmare after Christmas’: Fed-up commuters vent frustration over strikes
Commuters left stranded by rail strikes have vented their frustrations, writes John Dunne.
Kelly Sandord, a 26-year-old retail buyer needed to get to Shrewsbury only to find there were no trains at Euston.
She said: “What a first day back it’s like the nightmare after Christmas.
“We’ve just had enough, the way they have targeted Christmas and January is so selfish. You would think as a good will gesture they would put it on hold. To start the new working year like this is a massive downer. My sympathy for the strike is waning.”
William Tulley, 58, was trying to get to Northampton after visiting relatives in London.
He said: “I’m not anti-strike but the country cannot continue like this. Covid set us back economically and socially in some ways and this industrial action is stopping our recovery. It’s certainly a bleak start to the New Year.”
Government ‘not telling truth’ over rail strikes intervention, Lynch claims
The Government is not telling “the whole truth”, a union leader has suggested, after ministers said they did not intervene in rail strike negotiations in December.
Asked about Transport Secretary Mark Harper’s claims that ministers did not intervene, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch told Sky News: “He is not telling you the truth, because we had a document with the train operating companies that did not include driver-only operation.
“It was taken away for approval in Whitehall at the Department for Transport and they inserted about eight or nine bullet points that completely undermined the negotiations.
“That was a direct intervention of Government ministers, we know that to be true.
“If he is saying that didn’t happen, he is simply not telling you the whole truth.”
Mick Lynch at Euston Station picket line on Tuesday
/ Jeremy SelwynTalks to end strikes to take place next week
More negotiations over the rail strikes will take place next week, the Transport Secretary has said.
Asked about talks between the unions and employers, Mark Harper told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “First of all, the deal is not going to be done in TV studios, it is going to be done around a negotiating table between the trade unions, the train operating companies that run the trains, and Network Rail that run the track and the signalling.
“We have got to get people back around the table.”
He added: “We had some good meetings before Christmas, we have got some more meetings scheduled next week.
“I would, frankly, rather they were taking place this week rather than the strikes happening, but that was a matter for the unions.
“It is RMT and Aslef that have scheduled strikes for this week; I would rather they were sat around the negotiating table.”
Government ‘needs to tell us their proposals’ to stop strike – Lynch
The Government needs to set out its exact proposals to move forward rail strike negotiations, RMT boss Mick Lynch said.
In another interview from the picket line, he told Sky News: “I would go and meet him (Transport Secretary Mark Harper) now if he wants, or he can come here and meet me, and we can hammer some things out.
“What we keep hearing is the same stuff from the Government across the sectors that they want to facilitate an agreement, but they don’t actually do anything.
“I met the rail minister on December 15 along with the companies. We have heard nothing tangible since then, we have heard a few warm words and Mark Harper conducts himself in a pleasant way, in a good way, and that is fine.
“What we need to hear now from the Government is exactly what it is they are going to propose to us.”
Mr Lynch also suggested ministers were “undermining efforts to get a settlement” and had “torpedoed” an agreement in December – an allegation Mr Harper has denied.
Transport Secretary denies Government intervened to stop deal with strikers
The Transport Secretary has denied a claim that ministers intervened in rail strike negotiations in December to stop a deal.
Asked about the claims, Mark Harper told Sky News: “That absolutely isn’t true.
“In fact, since I became Transport Secretary a couple of month ago I met all the union leaders, I tried to change the tone of the discussions and I said that ministers would help facilitate the trade unions and the employers, that is the train operating companies and Network Rail, getting around the table.”
He later added: “There is a fair and reasonable pay offer on the table. There is not a bottomless pit of taxpayers’ money here.”
