Rail strike chaos set to continue as stations left ‘deserted’
THE largest rail strike for a generation caused severe disruption yesterday, with more cancellations happening today.
Many passengers’ journeys took several hours longer than normal, while those who chose to travel by car instead were greeted by a surge in traffic.
Only a fifth of trains ran yesterday and half of all lines were closed.
Last trains were much earlier than normal, such as London Euston to Glasgow at 1.30pm and London King’s Cross to Edinburgh at 2pm.
The network was due to shut down at 6.30pm.
The chaos will continue today, with only 60 per cent of trains running, mainly due to a delay to the start of services as signallers and control room staff are not doing overnight shifts.
Some 40,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at Network Rail and 13 train operators walked out yesterday in a bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
Much of Britain had no passenger trains for the entire day, including most of Scotland and Wales, and in the West the whole of Gloucestershire, Cornwall and Dorset.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a meeting of the Cabinet that reforms are vital for the rail industry and passengers.
He said: “I say this to the country as a whole, we need to get ready to stay the course.
“To stay the course, because these reforms, these improvements in the way we run our railways are in the interests of the travelling public, they will help to cut costs for farepayers up and down the country.”
Usually busy stations such as London Euston, Bristol Temple Meads and Birmingham New Street were nearly deserted except for union picket lines.
Many people worked from home rather than travelled to offices.
Retail analysts Springboard said footfall in central London was 27% down on last Tuesday, while city centres outside the capital suffered an 11% reduction.
Those who had to travel faced skeleton train timetables and increased traffic on the roads.
Electrical engineer Harry Charles said his normal 10-minute journey to work by train to London Bridge took him 90 minutes.
London Underground services were also suspended on the vast majority of lines due to a walkout by workers.
Figures published by location technology firm TomTom show the level of road congestion at 11am was higher than the same time last week in several cities.
People trying to travel around the capital faced long queues for buses.
Uber hiked its prices amid a spike in demand, with a three-mile journey from Paddington to King’s Cross estimated to cost £27 at 8.45am.
Strikes are also planned for tomorrow and Saturday.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is considering possible disciplinary action after several of his party’s MPs joined picket lines outside stations.
He reportedly ordered frontbenchers not to do that as the Conservatives have sought to use the row to claim Labour is on the side of striking workers who have caused chaos.
Pupils and parents were being urged to make an alternative plan for getting to school for A-level and GCSE exams.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch warned that the dispute could continue for months.
The union has been asked by Network Rail to attend formal consultation talks next month on introducing “modern working practices”.
Network Rail official Tim Shoveller said the changes will mean “dumping outdated working practices and introducing new technology”.
He added: “We expect this will reduce roles by around 1,800, the vast majority of which will be lost through voluntary severance and natural wastage.”
But rail workers on the picket line outside Bristol Temple Meads voiced their concerns about the proposals.
A group of around 12 workers gathered outside the station holding placards which said “this strike is about safety” and “never cross a picket, your job could be next”.
Ryan, a train manager at Temple
Meads who has worked in the industry for eight years, said: “We are currently facing redundancies across the network.
“The government plans to close all ticket offices across the country when 1 in 8 rail tickets is bought in a ticket office, that will leave disabled people, anyone who can’t use a smart phone or anyone who struggles with the ticket system, potentially facing fines for having the wrong ticket.
“We’re facing a three year pay freeze, with inflation sitting at 11 per cent. The companies that run the networks have reported massive profits at a time when no one was travelling on the railways. We’re not seeing any of that put back into staff or the infrastructure and enough is enough.”
Workers on the picket line outside Temple Meads expressed confusion at the Government’s plan to replace railway staff with agency workers to break the strikes.
“All I can say is best of luck to them,” one of them said.
“In my role as a train guard, it takes six months to be deemed competent, is the plan to take those agency staff and give them that six months’ training? If they can’t train them up for the required amount of time, it is going to leave us with unsafe railways, where the passengers are at risk, the staff are at risk and the infrastructure is at risk.”
They added that the primary role of the guard was to coordinate the movement of the train with the driver, station teams and the signallers. Guards have extensive training on track speeds, platform length, track junctions as well as track and electrical infrastructure so they can alert signallers to obstructions, damage and other hazards, the striking worker explained.