Half of the UK's rail lines will be closed during next week's strikes, Network Rail has said, with vast areas of Wales being hit by the walkouts by train staff. Swansea, Bridgend, Carmarthen, Aberystwyth, Llandudno, Holyhead and Pwllheli are among the areas that will receive no passenger services.
Services to some areas of England and anywhere north of Glasgow or Edinburgh in Scotland will also be stopped and even the lines that remain open will stop earlier than normal. Services will only run from 7.30am until 6.30pm. You can see the full map of services that will be operating below:
The strike days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday next week, June 21, 23 and 25. The number of passenger services on those days is expected to be limited to around 4,500 compared with 20,000 normally. Here are some examples of last trains from London on strike days:
- To Edinburgh: 2pm
- To Leeds: 3.05pm
- To Birmingham: 3.43pm
- To Cardiff: 4.27pm
- To Brighton: 5.50pm
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at Network Rail and 13 train operators are to strike for three days next week in similar disputes over pay, jobs and pensions. Lines will only be open between 7.30am and 6.30pm, meaning services will start later and finish earlier than usual.
Passengers "who must travel" are urged to "plan ahead" to ensure they can complete their journeys within this window, Network Rail said. Last services from London to Scotland will leave in the early afternoon.
Steve Montgomery, who chairs industry body the Rail Delivery Group, said: "These strikes will affect the millions of people who use the train each day, including key workers, students with exams, those who cannot work from home, holidaymakers and those attending important business and leisure events.
"Working with Network Rail, our plan is to keep as many services running as possible, but significant disruption will be inevitable and some parts of the network will not have a service, so passengers should plan their journeys carefully and check their train times."
Only around 12,000-14,000 services will be able to run on the days following the strikes. This is because signallers and control staff will not work overnight shifts that begin on the strike dates. That means trains will not be able to leave depots for up to four hours later than normal. Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said the strikes have been timed to cause "maximum disruption".
Tim Shoveller, the organisation's managing director for the North West and Central region, said: "The service that we can offer to passengers in the mornings is going to be very limited. Even on the intermediate days we won't be able to operate anything like a full service with the normal amount of capacity or frequency of trains. That's what gives rise to effectively six days of disruption."
Train operator Northern urged passengers "not to travel" between Tuesday and Sunday. Southeastern said its customers should "only travel by rail if necessary" on the three strike days. TransPennine Express told passengers they should "only travel if journeys are essential" on strike days, adding that "services will also be affected on the days following the industrial action, particularly in the mornings".
Talks aimed at averting crippling strikes on the railways are continuing but with little hope of a last-minute deal to avert industrial action which will lead to travel chaos next week.
Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines told a briefing on Wednesday: "Talks have not progressed as far as I had hoped and so we must prepare for a needless national rail strike and the damaging impact it will have. We, and our train operating colleagues, are gearing up to run the best service we can for passengers and freight users next week despite the actions of the RMT.
"We will keep talking to try and find a compromise that could avert this hugely damaging strike but, make no mistake, the level of service we will be able to offer will be significantly compromised and passengers need to take that into account and to plan ahead and only travel if it's really necessary to do so."
Network Rail has made a 2.5% pay offer to the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), which is balloting its members for strikes, but discussions are continuing with the RMT.
Mr Haines said Network Rail is looking to cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs, insisting it can be achieved through voluntary means, particularly as a "significant" number of employees are over the age of 60. Network Rail wants to introduce changes to working practices linked to technologies such as using drones to check tracks and infrastructure, which the company says would be safer than having workers on the tracks, as well as more cost-effective.
"There is a history of resistance to change due to technology, but we cannot hold back the tide," said Mr Haines.
He cited a move to introduce an app to communicate with staff across the country, which he said took a year to seek union agreement. The railways are facing a "fundamental financial deficit", with fewer passengers travelling as a result of the pandemic, especially on Fridays, although numbers have improved for weekend leisure travel.
Meanwhile, the RMT has called for talks with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Chancellor Rishi Sunak. General secretary Mick Lynch said in a letter that the Treasury is "calling the shots" and not allowing rail employers to reach a negotiated settlement.
"In effect, in recent weeks, the union has been negotiating with the Government but the Government have not been in the room," he wrote.
Mr Haines denied the RMT's claim, saying the Treasury has set a financial framework, but Network Rail is leading talks on the productivity it believes is needed for pay rises.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: "Unions have gone on the record saying they don't negotiate with this Government. They're right: they must negotiate with the employers.
"The industry is offering daily talks to resolve the strikes. We continue to encourage the unions to take them up on that offer and negotiate a fair deal for everyone instead of going straight to the last resort of strikes."
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