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Vacationers are now facing the consequences of the ongoing rail strikes, as the Aslef union’s train drivers who operate the Gatwick Express are participating in a walk-out on Wednesday.
Employees of South Western Railway, Southern, Southeastern, and Isle of Wight’s Island Line are currently participating in a 24-hour strike, causing disruptions for commuters in the southern region of England.
On December 6, there will be no trains operating on the Gatwick Express, a normally fast and direct service connecting London Victoria, Gatwick Airport, and Brighton.
Currently, Southern is not operating any services except for a shuttle that stops at Gatwick Airport and London Victoria.
On Wednesday, Southeastern has cancelled all train services.
South Western Railway is currently running a very restricted schedule on a few select routes from 7am to 7pm.
Many parts of the network will be shut down, but there will still be some available services, including London Waterloo to Basingstoke, Woking, Guildford, and Feltham, as well as Basingstoke to Salisbury.
There will be no train services all day at Bournemouth, Exeter, Portsmouth, Reading, Southampton, Staines, Windsor, and Yeovil stations.
This is a planned series of strikes by train operators in an effort to create significant disturbance.
Industrial action will affect CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, and the Heathrow Express on Thursday. The latter two will have a limited service from 7am to 7pm, while the former will have no trains running that day.
All train services for Northern and TransPennine Express have been cancelled on Friday.
Furthermore, the Aslef union has declared a prohibition on any extra work during the week leading up to and including Saturday. This measure is impacting operators, even on days when there are no strikes taking place.
Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, stated that the reason for their strike is not to cause inconvenience for passengers, but to express their frustration with the government’s unwillingness to compromise and the lack of good faith from the private companies they work for.
Train operators are being requested to provide a salary increase without any conditions, and then engage in discussions at a regional level to update their methods of work – which will result in added costs for the employers. Aslef claims that certain drivers have not received a salary raise in the past five years.
The Department for Transport representative expressed disappointment that Aslef is choosing to disrupt the public and hospitality industry during the start of the holiday season. The suggestion is for Aslef to follow the actions of other rail unions and allow their members to vote on the proposed fair pay agreement instead of going on strike.
A representative for the Rail Delivery Group stated that the strike organized by the Aslef leadership is completely unnecessary and will unfortunately disrupt both customers and businesses during the crucial holiday season.
Source: independent.co.uk
