The train drivers’ union Aslef has called an extra five days of strikes at LNER in response to the threatened imposition of minimum service levels at the state-run London-Scotland service.
The controversial legislation, which was brought in by the government in late 2023, is likely to be trialled for the first time in the latest round of rail strikes.
Aslef had announced a week of rolling 24-hour strikes around England from late January, one day at each operator, in the long-running pay dispute.
However, amid signs that LNER, which is run by the Department for Transport’s own operator of last resort, would attempt to impose rules forcing drivers to work, Aslef has significantly escalated its planned action.
The rules attempt to impose about 40% of normal timetables on a strike day. Unions have said they remove the right to strike and are unworkable, and senior rail sources had expressed deep misgivings.
The industry has attempted to retain a united front in public and has not discussed plans for minimum service levels, while ministers have said the decision is down to train operators. However, it is understood that the government has privately told contracted firms that it expects them to use the new legislation to combat the strikes, though ministers do not want to be seen as publicly intervening in the dispute.
One government source said: “The train companies lobbied us for this ahead of the 2019 manifesto and they’ve got what they wanted so we would very much hope that they would use those powers. We aren’t going to grandstand and publicly urge them to do it but we quietly expect them to do so.”
However, most rail firms are understood to be extremely reluctant to impose the minimum service levels, which they had argued would worsen the situation, even before the escalation at LNER. A senior industry source said: “They’ve got a cat in hell’s chance of running it … Rather than passengers being told in advance that there is no service, they will be told there will be 40% – and the trains won’t show up.”
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, was contacted for comment.
LNER and three other operators – Southeastern, Northern, and TransPennine Express (TPE) – are directly in state ownership. Only LNER, which relies less on rest day working and has more driver-managers, has attempted to run a service on previous drivers’ strike days.
Drivers were to strike at LNER on Friday 2 February. They will now strike for another five days from 5 to 9 February, and extend an overtime ban until Saturday 10 February.
Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, said: “We have given LNER management – and their government counterparts who hold the purse strings – every opportunity to come to the table and they have so far made no realistic offer to our members.
“We have not heard from the transport secretary since December 2022, or from the train operating companies since April 2023. It’s time for them to come to the table and work with us to resolve this dispute so we can all move forward and get our railway back on track.”
LNER said: “Instead of staging more damaging industrial action, we urge the Aslef leadership to work with industry negotiators to resolve the dispute.” The operator did not respond to requests for comment on its plans to impose minimum service levels.
The TUC, which has bitterly opposed the new laws limiting the right to strike, accused the government of deliberately stoking the rail dispute.
Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, said: “Ministers and train bosses must stop playing political games and get around the negotiating table. But they appear to be more interested in stoking tensions than finding a way through.
“Instead of sitting down with unions for talks, ministers have pushed through draconian legislation to make it harder for working people to win better pay and conditions.”
He added: “Minimum service levels are unworkable, undemocratic and likely illegal. And they’ll only poison industrial relations.”
Aside from LNER, drivers will strike at Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Thameslink and South Western Railway on Tuesday 30 January; at Northern Trains and TPE on Wednesday 31 January; at Greater Anglia and C2C on Friday 2 February; at West Midlands Trains, Avanti West Coast and East Midlands Railway on Saturday 3 February; and at Great Western, CrossCountry and Chiltern on Monday 5 February.
Drivers will refuse to work overtime from Monday 29 January until Tuesday 6 February.
