Train services around Britain will be severely disrupted again as RMT members at 14 train operators stage the first of four planned 24-hour strikes.
Passengers have been urged to check before travel on Thursday and are being told to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary, with most affected operators ending remaining services by early evening.
Train operators said they would “pull out all the stops” with contingency staff to keep as much running as possible. About 40-50% of trains are expected to run overall, but with wide regional variations, and some of the operators in England running no trains at all on parts of their networks.
Thursday’s strike does not involve RMT members at Network Rail, who suspended planned industrial action pending a referendum on a pay deal, reducing the impact for some passengers.
Operators in Wales and Scotland are not involved directly but cross-border services to and from London and the rest of England will be reduced. Intercity routes operated by LNER will be severely reduced, with last trains departing in the early afternoon, while Avanti, GWR and East Midlands will run hourly intercity services.
Others operators such as Northern, TransPennine and Chiltern will not run trains to key stops on their normal network. However, C2C and parts of Greater Anglia will remain largely unaffected.
Disruption could persist early on Friday, while a second strike will take place on Saturday. The industry body, the Rail Delivery Group, urged passengers to check before they travel for updates, with last trains on the evenings before strike days and early trains on the mornings after the strikes also liable to be affected.
Two further stoppages are planned by RMT train staff in a fortnight’s time, on 30 March and 1 April.
Steve Montgomery, chair of the Rail Delivery Group, said: “This latest round of strikes will be a further inconvenience to our customers, who have already experienced months of disruption and cost our people even more money at a time they can least afford it.
“Unfortunately, while we will pull out all the stops to keep as many trains running as possible, there will be reduced services across many parts of the rail network on all four strike days.”
Passengers already holding tickets for strike days can use them on the days preceding or after the strikes, or obtain a free refund if a booked train is cancelled, delayed or rescheduled.
Montgomery said the RMT leadership were blocking a chance to resolve the dispute by refusing to give members at train operators a vote on a proposed offer worth 9% over two years, and 13% to the lowest paid.
A similar offer for staff at Network Rail has been put to a referendum, whose result is expected on Monday.
The RMT was approached for comment.
