No trains at all on British rail routes as strike begins

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No trains at all on British rail routes as strike begins

Passengers across Britain are facing more disruption on Wednesday, with no trains at all running on most routes in England as train drivers start the first of two days of strikes this week.

The Aslef union has taken action on 14 operating companies in the past year, with all but four of them suspending services entirely.

Passengers have been asked to check before they can travel with just a skeleton service on Greater Anglia, LNER and GWR. South Western Railway, where only depot drivers are striking, hopes to run full service.

Strike action is not being taken at C 2 C or Merseyrail in England. Scotrail and Transport for Wales settled pay claims and their services are not affected, although mainline cross-border routes to London will be severely affected or stopped entirely.

On Friday there will be a 24 hour strike by Aslef.

The train drivers union warned of more walkouts, saying that negotiations to settle the pay dispute have gone backwards. Simon Weller, assistant secretary of Aslef, said that the initial offer by the Rail Delivery Group RDG of 8% over two years was designed to fail The union was angered that it was immediately released to the press before it could respond, and that train drivers were now frustrated by the detail of the offer and were pressing for more action.

A RDG spokeswoman said the proposed increase would take drivers' average salaries from 60,000 to nearly 65,000 and urged the union to engage constructively to move forward. The RDG said strikes have cost the industry about 480 million in lost ticket revenue, compounding its financial shortfall and problems since Covid.

The RMT still thinks improved offers from train operators and the details of a Network Rail offer that was rejected in a referendum before Christmas have raised hopes of a settlement with other unions.

A third union, the TSSA, said on Tuesday it had received two formal offers for all its members at train companies, which it would consider.

The union's organising director, Luke Chester, said there was progress on a number of fronts on pay, job security and the future working conditions of many members. He said that the TSSA would continue to vote on members for an extended strike mandate after similar moves at the RMT and Aslef, which could mean industrial action continues through the summer.

Teachers and civil servants are on strike on Wednesday on the TUC's day of national action.

Border Force officials, whose walkout could mean long queues for inbound air passengers, although a first wave of action in December did not disrupt airports.