Rail strikes are back with a vengeance. Passengers on Avanti West Coast face months of disruption. Walk-outs began on 31 December and are set to continue until the late May bank holiday weekend.
In addition, train drivers have announced strikes on two routes: Aslef union members on London’s Elizabeth line will walk out for four days in February and March, while drivers for Hull Trains will strike on Fridays and Saturdays in March and April.
Train managers working for Avanti West Coast who belong to the RMT union walked out on New Year’s Eve, Thursday 2 January, and a series of Sundays: 12 January, plus 2 and 9 February. They will continue to strike every Sunday until 25 May – a total of 15 more days, disrupting the plans of up to 100,000 passengers for each of the chosen dates.
The Sunday strikes are particularly fraught for anyone hoping to travel between Scotland and England up to and including 16 March, as the obvious alternative East Coast main line is closed every weekend between Newcastle and York for engineering work.
Avanti West Coast says: “If you need to travel on Sunday 16 or Sunday 23 February, be sure to check your journey before you travel. Football fixtures and engineering work will also affect journeys across the rail network on these dates..”
These are the key questions and answers.
Avanti West Coast: what routes does it operate?
The main network covers around 700 miles of track. It centres on the West Coast main line to and from London Euston. The leading cities served are:
Coventry, Stoke-on-Trent, Preston, Carlisle and Edinburgh are among the other cities on the network.
In addition, Avanti West Coast runs along the North Wales coast, connecting Crewe and Chester with the port of Holyhead.
What is the dispute about?
Payments to train managers for working on their rest days.
RMT members say they are poorly rewarded compared with the sums earned by “management train managers”. These are senior managers employed in desk-based roles for Avanti West Coast, who have been trained to stand in as train managers when essential to keep trains running – such as during strikes.
An improved offer from the rail firm was put to union members, which Avanti says is worth around £250 for each eight-hour shift worked on a rest day, or £300 at weekends.
The train operator believes it would make Avanti West Coast train managers among the best rewarded in the business for rest-day working.
But train managers resoundingly rejected Avanti’s fresh deal in a referendum; seven out of 10 of all those eligible to vote were in favour of walking out.
Mick Lynch, the outgoing general secretary of the RMT, says: “It is wrong that Avanti is paying replacement managers up to £500 per shift – around double what our members earn – while these managers fail to deliver the same service for passengers.
“This destructive approach is typical of train operating companies and stems from the failed policies of the previous Conservative government, which rewarded excessive payouts for managers rather than resolving disputes fairly.”
Train drivers employed by Avanti earn a flat £600 for working on a day off.
What does Avanti West Coast say?
“We’re disappointed with this industrial action, and we are sorry for the inconvenience it will cause,” the rail firm says
Kathryn O’Brien, executive director of Customer Experience at Avanti West Coast, says: “We’re disappointed by the RMT calling strike action for an extended period when our customers may be working, visiting family and friends, or enjoying days out.
“As a result, they will face significantly disrupted journeys during this time. I would like to thank them for their patience and understanding.
“We remain open to working with the RMT to resolve the dispute.”
What does the government say?
After the strike call, a Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said: “This is incredibly disappointing news for passengers who would have been hoping to leave strike action in 2024.”
The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, has put the ball firmly in the rail firm’s court. She told Sky News: “What I want to see happen is for the leadership of Avanti West Coast, which is currently a privately owned train operating company, to get back round the table with the RMT to see what can be done to avoid action happening.”
In other words, offer more cash. Ultimately, though, extra payments would be funded by the taxpayer.
What is the effect?
A significantly reduced timetable is in place on strike days. Management train managers are deployed to run these services.
Fewer trains run and operating hours are sharply reduced. The first train of the day departs Euston after 9am and the last train of the day will leave before 5pm.
Northbound from London
Southbound to London
North Wales, Blackpool and Edinburgh will have no Avanti West Coast services.
Avanti West Coast says: “Customers who do travel should plan ahead, expect disruption, and check the details of their last train home.”
Thousands of football fans planning to go to away games will be unable to travel by train, including Manchester United fans hoping to travel to their Premier League game on 16 February against Spurs in north London.
How soon can I find out if my journey is possible on a Sunday?
Strike day timetables are published weekly on Tuesday afternoons for the following Sunday.
Wasn’t the government going to end rail strikes?
Yes. The first Labour transport secretary, Louise Haigh, vowed to “focus relentlessly” on improving performance on the railways and introduce “much-needed rail reform”.
Train drivers, who had been in a pay dispute for two years, received a 15 per cent settlement – covering three years – and ended their dispute.
Since then Ms Haigh has since been replaced by Heidi Alexander.
A DfT spokesperson said: “As part of our plans to reform the railways, we’re determined to move towards a seven-day working week and end the over-reliance on rest day working, giving passengers the certainty and reliability they deserve.”
The RMT, meanwhile, has the stated objective to “work for the supersession of the capitalist system by a socialistic order of society”.
Shouldn’t Avanti West Coast and other train firms just employ more staff?
Yes, according to RMT leader Mick Lynch: “At the core of this issue is a severe staffing shortage, which has created an over-reliance on overtime in the first place.”
But if any rail firm increased its workforce to cover all possible shortfalls caused by illness, annual leave and training requirements, many of those staff would be under-employed for much of the year.
Rail finances are in a terrible mess, with taxpayers currently paying a subsidy of £12.5bn annually, equivalent to £400 per second, to keep the trains running.
Unless revenue can rise substantially – which is unlikely given the continuing unreliability of trains – it is more likely that jobs will be cut than increased.
One rail insider said they were “baffled” by the dispute, adding: “There’s no shortage of volunteer train managers at the current rates of pay. So obviously ‘the market’ can’t see a problem.”
Anything else for rail passengers to worry about?
Passengers on the UK’s busiest rail route, London’s Elizabeth line, face four days of disruption when train drivers walk out on Thursday 27 February, Saturday 1 March, Saturday 8 March and Monday 10 March.
The strike is likely to cause severe disruption to commuters on the east-west route through London, as well as travellers to and from Heathrow airport.
Rail passengers travelling on the East Coast main line between London, Grantham, Doncaster and Hull face two months of disruption at weekends as drivers employed by Hull Trains walk out.
Members of the Aslef union employed by the operator will strike each Friday and Saturday from 7 March to 26 April – a total of 16 days of stoppages. Aslef says Hull Trains “unfairly sacked a train driver who raised a safety concern and has done nothing wrong”.
A spokesperson for the rail firm said: “We’d like to reassure customers that there is no planned disruption to be concerned about at this time. Should there be any changes to our service then we will provide any updates in due course, with prior notice.”
Finally, East Coast main line operator LNER says: “Trains between the North East and London King’s Cross on Saturday 15, Sunday 16 and Monday 17 March 2025 are expected to be extremely busy due to large numbers of customers travelling to the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley Stadium on the Sunday afternoon.
