Great Western Railway employees taking part in RMT and ASLEF strikes this week
Rail strikes will continue to affect travellers this week as rail workers from two different unions walk out in an ongoing row over pay and conditions.
Today (Thursday) the ASLEF Union (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen) takes part in planned industrial action which will see workers from 15 train companies go on strike.
Workers who are part of the RMT Union (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport) will be striking on Friday and Saturday as well.
Great Western Railway employees will be taking part in all three days of strikes, meaning that there will be little to no services running to or from Newbury this week.
Great Western Railway has stated that “only an extremely reduced service will operate on a limited number of routes” and “some parts of the GWR network will have no service at all”.
The rail company has also stated that services occurring on the day after the strikes (Sunday) will also be affected and travellers should expect delays, cancellations and alterations.
Alongside Great Western, 14 other rail companies are taking part in the planned RMT industrial action.
These include Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, Northern Trains, South Eastern, South Western Railway, Transpennine Express, Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and GTR (including Gatwick Express).
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The government is blocking the union's attempts to reach a negotiated settlement with the rail employers.
“We have worked with the rail industry to reach successful negotiated settlements ever since privatisation in 1993 and we have achieved deals across the network in 2021 and 2022 where the Department for Transport had no involvement.
“Yet in this dispute, there is an unprecedented level of ministerial interference, which is hamstringing rail employers from being able to negotiate a package of measures with us, so we can settle this dispute.
“We will continue our industrial action campaign while we work towards a negotiated resolution.”
The 15 companies involved in the ASLEF strike are Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, London North Eastern Railway, Northern Trains, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway (depot drivers only), SWR Island Line, TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains.
