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Another day of travel misery is under way as unions continue their campaign of strike action – and there’s more to come this weekend.

Workers at Network Rail, major train companies, London Underground and buses in the capital will all walk out in the coming days.

It’s part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions which has been ongoing throughout the summer and shows no sign of ending.

On Thursday, members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at Network Rail and 14 train operators, Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) members at seven companies, and Unite members at NR will strike.

This will have a knock-on effect on rail services on Friday morning.

Also on Friday, members of the RMT and Unite on London Underground will walk out, as well as Unite members on London United bus routes in the capital in a separate dispute over pay.

On Saturday, RMT members at Network Rail and 14 train operators, TSSA members at seven companies, and Unite members at NR will strike again, along with London United bus drivers.

Sunday morning train services will be affected by the knock-on effect of Saturday’s action.

Only around a fifth of rail services will operate between 7.30am and 6.30pm on Thursday and Saturday, before the network shuts altogether in the evening.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has defiantly insisted the strikes will continue until a better offer is made to his members.

The union leader had accused the government of ‘interfering’ in the negotiation process and said he would not ‘tolerate being bullied or hoodwinked into accepting a raw deal for our members’.

He said: ‘Network Rail have not made any improvement on their previous pay offer and the train operating companies have not offered us anything new.

‘Tube bosses are having secret negotiations with the government about cutting costs by slashing jobs and undermining working conditions and pensions.

‘Network Rail is also threatening to impose compulsory redundancies and unsafe 50% cuts to maintenance work if we did not withdraw strike action.

‘The train operating companies have put driver-only operations on the table along with ransacking our members’ terms and conditions.’

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said union were acting together and are ‘hell-bent on causing as much misery as possible to the very same taxpayers who stumped up £600 per household to ensure not a single rail worker lost their job during the pandemic’.

Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said: ‘It saddens me that we are again having to ask passengers to stay away from the railway for two days this week due to unnecessary strike action, when we should be helping them enjoy their summers.’

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