Train drivers will walk out again next month, the latest in a raft of strikes across the network.

Aslef members at 12 rail companies have confirmed they’ll down tools on September 15.

It’s part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions which has blighted the network throughout the summer.

The union represents 96% of train drivers across England, Scotland and Wales and has already orchestrated strikes on July 30 and August 13.

It comes after another rail union, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), announced that its members at nine companies plus Network Rail will strike on September 26.

General secretary Mick Whelan said: ‘We regret that, once again, passengers are going to be inconvenienced because we don’t want to go on strike – withdrawing our labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for a trade union – but the train companies have forced our hand.

He said the pay deal currently on the table from operators amounts to a ‘real terms pay cut’ because of spiraling inflation.

Mr Whelan cotinued: ‘We want the companies – which are making big profits, and paying their chief executives enormous salaries and bonuses – to make a proper pay offer to help our members keep up with the increase in the cost of living.

‘That’s why we are calling on the companies today to do the right thing – the decent thing – and come back to the negotiating table with an offer our members can accept.’

The strike will impact the following providers: Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; CrossCountry; Greater Anglia; Great Western Railway; Hull Trains; LNER; London Overground; Northern Trains; Southeastern; TransPennine Express; and West Midlands Trains.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: ‘For the ninth time this summer, union leaders are choosing self-defeating strike action over constructive talks, not only disrupting the lives of millions who rely on these services but jeopardising the future of the railways and their own members’ livelihoods.

‘These reforms deliver the modernisations our rail network urgently needs, are essential to the future of rail, and will happen; strikes will not change this.’

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