Important Information about the Train Strike Dates in February and March: Understanding the Impact of the Disruption

The disagreement between Aslef, the union representing train drivers, and 14 train companies in England has now surpassed three years.

The union has commenced its initial strikes for 2024 as a resolution to the ongoing and contentious dispute over salary and work arrangements remains elusive.

Aslef members who work as train drivers will be participating in a work stoppage that will occur regionally over the course of a week, starting on Tuesday, January 30th and ending on Monday, February 5th. This will result in the cancellation of thousands of trains each day.

The impact is worsened by a nine-day prohibition on working additional hours, occurring from January 29th to February 6th.

According to Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, certain members have gone without a salary increase for five years. Additionally, government officials have declined to communicate with the union for a period of one year.

According to The Independent, he stated that any form of strike is highly destructive. However, given that they have been on strike for 18 months and have received no response from the government or train operating companies, they feel compelled to bring attention to their concerns.

Huw Merriman, the rail minister, stated to The Independent that strikes hinder the progress of the railway. He further added that there is a fair and reasonable offer available for Aslef, if they present it to their members.

The train drivers were paid an average of £60,000 for working 35 hours a week over four days. The proposed pay deal would increase their salary to £65,000.

“We are hopeful that they will seize the chance to do so. This will allow us to discuss the benefits of rail together.”

Separately, the 14 train operators have reached a tentative agreement with the RMT union that has put an end to walk-outs while talks continue on a local level. But the RMT has called two 48-hour strikes in February and March on the London Overground.

Here are the main inquiries and responses.

Aslef is currently in conflict with the train operating companies who have been contracted by the government to offer railway services. These companies include:

Intercity operators:

Operators of commuter services in the southeastern region of England.

Operators specializing in the Midlands and northern regions of England.

ScotRail, Transport for Wales, Transport for London (including the Elizabeth Line), Merseyrail, and open-access operators like Grand Central, Hull Trains, and Lumo are not participating. However, their services may experience high levels of congestion due to duplicate routes affected by the strike.

Starting on Monday, January 29th, there will be a ban on overtime.

On Tuesday, January 30th, services from South Western Railway, Southeastern, and GTR (Southern, Gatwick Express, Great Northern and Thameslink) will be running.

On Wednesday, January 31st, the Northern and TransPennine Express services will be in operation.

On Thursday, February 1st, there will not be a strike, however the overtime ban will remain in effect.

On Friday, February 2nd, Greater Anglia, C2C, and LNER will be in service.

On Saturday, February 3rd, the train services operating in the West Midlands, Avanti West Coast, and East Midlands regions will be in operation.

On Sunday, February 4th, there will be no strike; however, the overtime ban will remain in effect.

On Monday, February 5th, the train lines of Great Western, CrossCountry, and Chiltern will be operating.

On Tuesday, February 6th, there will be no strike, but the overtime ban will continue for one more day.

These forecasts are based on the most recent announcements from railway companies and The Independent’s examination of past strikes. They should be verified prior to traveling.

The Great Northern service on January 30th will have a shuttle calling at London Kings Cross and Cambridge only. It will most likely be branded as Thameslink and have restricted hours of operation.

Revised: Thameslink (30 January): A shuttle service will stop at St Pancras, Luton Airport Parkway, and Luton. The company advises that trains will likely be crowded and has implemented queueing systems.

Thameslink warns that you may not be able to board your desired train service. If you are traveling on one of the final trains of the day, keep in mind that you may not be able to board at all if the queue is long. Additionally, there will be no other transportation options available after the last train leaves. It is advised to plan ahead and allow enough time to reach your destination.

On January 30th, Southern will only have a nonstop shuttle service running between London Victoria and Gatwick airport from 6am to 11:30pm. There will be no other trains operating.

On January 30th, the airport shuttle service known as Gatwick Express will be operated by Southern.

There will be no train service on the Southeastern line on January 30th.

On January 30th, South Western Railway offers a fairly comprehensive service in comparison to other train companies.

Northern (31 January): No trains. The operator says that it expects two key routes to be very busy on 3 February when East Midlands Railway is on strike: Leeds-Sheffield-Nottingham and Sheffield-Manchester.

On January 31st, TransPennine Express will not be operating any trains. The company has announced that there will be changes to evening services on January 30th and early morning services on February 1st.

On February 2nd, there will be no trains running for C2C. The company cautions that the car park in Upminster may reach capacity and close early. Upminster is located at the eastern terminus of the District Line on the London Underground, which will be operating as usual.

On February 2nd, Greater Anglia will have a restricted service connecting London Liverpool Street to Norwich, Ipswich, and Colchester, as well as Southend Victoria, Cambridge, and Stansted airport.

On February 2nd, LNER will have regular trains running on the main routes connecting London King’s Cross to Doncaster, York, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. The first trains will leave at approximately 8am and most trips will be completed by 7pm. There will be a limited direct service to Leeds, but passengers can make connections from Doncaster.

On February 3rd, Avanti West Coast will not be running any trains. The operator has stated that train services on the days before and after the strike will also be impacted.

On 3 February, East Midlands Railway has announced that there will be no trains running. The company has stated that there will be no bus services to replace the trains, and other train companies may also have reduced services due to an overtime ban.

On February 3rd, West Midlands Railway will not be operating any trains. Additionally, there is a notification that services on February 4th will experience significant delays and cancellations.

On February 5th, there will be no train services due to a strike. This also applies to the previous day, February 4th, as the train operator relies on drivers working overtime on Sundays to run any trains. The ban on overtime means that there will be no train services running.

There will be no train service on February 5th for CrossCountry.

On February 5th, Great Western Railway will operate a reduced service between London Paddington and Oxford, Bath, and Bristol. There will also be a link from Bristol to Cardiff. Limited service will be available on branch lines in Devon and Cornwall. The Night Riviera sleeper service from London to Penzance will be suspended for several nights.

Aside from the disturbance during days of strike, trains on surrounding days may also experience impact. These particular days may also see overcrowding as travelers adjust their schedules to avoid the industrial action.

The recent law grants the transportation secretary the authority to set a minimum level of service (MSL) on days when there is a strike, which must be at least 40% of the usual service. The government states that the 2023 Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act is intended to guarantee that the public can still use essential services during strikes.

The train company does not intend to enforce the new law on the union for train drivers. LNER mentioned the possibility and started discussions, prompting Aslef to announce a five-day strike specifically for LNER. However, the train company later stated that it would not mandate drivers to work, resulting in the strike being cancelled.

The BBC has stated that the prime minister is unhappy with the fact that train operators have not followed through with minimum service requirements. A representative from Downing Street commented, “We and the general public expect them to adhere to these standards.”

“We have consistently stated that this law is accessible for train companies to utilize.”

The Transport Select Committee has cautioned about possible unintended outcomes of the law. Conservative chair Iain Stewart expressed concern that MSLs could potentially harm the relationship between workers and employers, ultimately leading to less reliable services.

The minimum requirements for service level do not pertain to restrictions imposed by unions on working on non-contractual rest days.

Yes. In terms of sheer number of passengers hit, Tuesday 30 January is the most disruptive. It is aimed at commuters in southeast England, the majority of whom use the affected train operators. Normally Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern, South Western Railway and Southeastern carry around 40 per cent of all passengers.

On February 2 and 3, Friday and Saturday, intercity travelers will experience the most significant impact. This will be due to disruptions caused by the main operators on the East Coast and West Coast main lines, as well as the Midland main line.

Sunday 4 February is also likely to be severely disrupted mainly because of the ban on rest-day working. Chiltern Railway, which would normally run trains between London and Birmingham, says no services will run at all due to the overtime ban.

There will be increased disruption due to scheduled engineering projects on the West Coast main line between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, as well as on the East Coast main line between London King’s Cross and Stevenage.

The ban on working overtime will result in numerous cancellations. Aslef claims that train companies do not have sufficient drivers to fulfill their promises to passengers and businesses without requiring drivers to work on their scheduled days off.

Several train companies still do not include Sunday as part of their working week. As a result, the ban on rest-day working will cause significant disruptions on February 4th.

The GWR states that there will be major service disruptions and it is recommended that customers travel on different days. There will be no trains running on long-distance routes from London Paddington to Bristol, South Wales, and Exeter/Plymouth/Penzance.

Multiple railway companies have declared proactive cancellations in response to the previous ban on overtime, as listed below:

On weekends, there will be a significant decrease in service and on weekdays, there will be a reduction in the number of trains available.

Chiltern Railway: There will be a significant decrease in service on most routes and some branch lines will have no trains running. All routes will have earlier service endings than usual. There will be no trains operating on Sunday, February 4th.

Gatwick Express service is suspended due to the overtime ban. Instead, Southern trains will run between London Victoria and Gatwick airport during the industrial action.

The London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway will have closures on several or all days for the branch lines connecting Bletchley to Bedford, Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey, and Leamington Spa to Nuneaton.

The revised schedule will have fewer available services and some may begin and end earlier than normal.

Thameslink cautions: “There will be a modified schedule with fewer trains running.”

Certain train stations may limit entry or exit for passengers in order to prevent overcrowding.

The Heathrow Express, Elizabeth Line, and Tube will provide continuous access to London Heathrow.

On Tuesday, January 30th, passengers traveling through London Gatwick will experience major disruptions due to strikes. Both the Gatwick Express and Thameslink trains will not be in operation. However, passengers going between London and Gatwick can still use a Southern shuttle service that runs directly from Victoria Station to the airport. The GWR link that connects Gatwick to Redhill, Guildford, and Reading will operate as usual on January 30th, but not on February 5th.

On Tuesday, February 2nd, London Stansted will operate a limited service from the city, while “service changes” will occur on all other days during the overtime ban. The route to Norwich will be discontinued on February 2nd, but CrossCountry trains heading to Cambridge (and beyond to Birmingham) will continue to run. However, on February 5th, there will be no CrossCountry trains servicing Stansted airport or any other destination.

Luton airport can still be reached by train, specifically from London, every day. On January 30, during the Thameslink strike, there will be fewer trains running from London St Pancras to Luton Airport Parkway. However, the East Midlands Railway link will still be in operation. On February 3, when East Midlands Railway services are not expected to run, Thameslink will be running as usual.

On Friday, February 2nd, trains will run hourly at Southend airport, but with limited operating hours.

On Tuesday, January 30, South Western Railway will not be operating at Southampton airport. Additionally, on Monday, February 5, CrossCountry will also not be serving the airport.

On Wednesday, January 31, Manchester airport will experience a significant decrease in train services. Due to a strike by Northern and TransPennine Express drivers, there will only be one train per hour on Transport for Wales connecting central Manchester, Chester, and North Wales.

On Saturday, February 3rd, it is expected that Birmingham airport will not be reachable by train, except for Transport for Wales departing from Birmingham New Street.

During the strike, trains will operate normally between London St Pancras International and Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. However, connecting trips may be challenging on strike days, especially on Tuesday, January 30 when Thameslink and Southeastern services are suspended, and on Saturday, February 3 when there may be no East Midlands Railway services running.

During a recent interview with The Independent, Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, stated that it has been almost five years since employees have received a pay increase. The question then arises, should we take no action?

A clean deal is the only solution to our problem.

He claims that without reaching an agreement, the situation will become more chaotic and deteriorate.

Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, stated that the strikes will lead to disruption for customers and there are no winners in this situation. They also mentioned that although they envision a promising future for rail, currently taxpayers are providing an additional £54m per week to maintain services after the effects of Covid-19.

Aslef’s leaders must acknowledge the financial difficulties faced by the rail industry. An offer has been extended to drivers that would increase their base salaries to almost £65,000 for a four-day work week, not including overtime. This amount is considerably higher than the national average and many of our customers who are unable to work from home.

The government is urging the Aslef leadership to collaborate with them in finding a solution to the disagreement, rather than continuing with harmful industrial action. They are seeking a compromise that will benefit their employees and improve the reliability of services.

A representative from the Department for Transport expressed disappointment with Aslef’s ongoing focus on disrupting the travel of those commuting to work, school, or crucial medical appointments via train.

“Aslef is now the only rail union that is continuing to strike while refusing to put a fair and reasonable offer to its members. The offer that remains on the table and would bring the average train driver’s salary up to £65,000.

The leaders of Aslef should allow their members to determine their own future, rather than making the decision for them.

Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, expressed her disbelief at the lack of action from the transport secretary who has failed to meet with the unions in an attempt to resolve the issue since the previous Christmas.

The Labour Party will have a distinct approach compared to the Tories and will collaborate with both parties to come to a agreement that benefits passengers and employees. If the transport secretary also adopted this logical approach, there may not be ongoing strikes on our railways.

The previous statement made by Stephen Morgan MP, the shadow minister for rail, states that Labour plans to return railway ownership to the public as contracts expire and prioritize services for the benefit of passengers.

Over 300 RMT members will participate in two 48-hour strikes on the London Overground, occurring on Mondays and Tuesdays two weeks apart: February 19-20, 2024 and March 4-5, 2024. The group of striking employees includes security, station, revenue, and control staff.

According to the RMT, Arriva Rail London, the company responsible for London Overground, has proposed a pay offer that is lower than the rate of inflation.

The general secretary of the RMT, Mick Lynch, stated that if the issue at hand cannot be resolved, the RMT is fully prepared to take prolonged industrial action in order to secure a fair pay increase for London Overground employees.

The Independent has reached out to the Department for Transport and Arriva Rail London for a statement.

Source: independent.co.uk