Rail strike: Waterloo station quiet as industrial action continues

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Union chiefs have helped organise walkouts in the rail industry since last week, with action spread across national and London Underground networks. The last strikes crunched national rail trains on August 20, forcing many Britons to alter their weekend plans. The impact of Saturday’s action will continue today as officials expect another round of multi-line delays.

Is there a train strike today?

Trade unions have not scheduled more strikes today, but rail firms expect delays regardless.

The weekend walkouts lasted for most of Saturday, meaning timetables are feeling the burn as they readjust this morning.

Most lines and routes affected yesterday have warned customers to expect some form of limited service.

Saturday’s action will have left the following firms with reduced service this morning:

• Avanti West Coast
• c2c​​​​​​​
• Chiltern Railways
• CrossCountry
• East Midlands Railway
• Elizabeth line
• Gatwick Express
• Grand Central
• Great Northern
• Great Western Railway
• Greater Anglia
• Heathrow Express
• Hull Trains
• Island Line
• LNER
• London Northwestern Railway
• London Overground
• Lumo
• Merseyrail
• Northern
• ScotRail
• South Western Railway
• Southeastern
• Southern
• Stansted Express
• Thameslink
• TransPennine Express
• Transport for Wales
• West Midlands Railway

The “knock-on impact” likely won’t last the entire day, as delays will primarily hit morning services as they readjust.

Unions also organised strikes for bus services in southwest London and Surrey last week that caused enduring disruption into the weekend.

They have apologised for the disruption and asked for support as they advocate better pay and working conditions for their workers.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said during the strikes last week that he hoped people would “have sympathy for us” as he warned more walkouts could come.

He said: “We’re ordinary men and women that want to do our jobs and provide a service, but when you’re being cut to pieces by an employer, and by the government, you’ve got to make a stand.”

The Department of Transport has accused the RMT of “opting to inflict misery” on Britons, as a spokesman told the Guardian only hurt “those people the unions claim to represent”.

Despite these claims, the Government faces a “summer of discontent” as unions in other industries have followed rail works in voting to withhold labour.

Workers at the UK’s busiest container port voted to walk out today over a pay dispute.

Nearly 2,000 staff at Suffolk’s Port of Felixstowe rejected a seven percent pay rise from the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company described as “significantly below” inflation.

They could spend up to eight days on picket lines from 7am to 8pm in a decision port authorities have branded “disappointing”.

Port spokesman Paul Davey said the offer and an additional £500 payment marked a pay increase of “between 8.1 percent and 9.6 percent”.

The decision is unusual for Felixstowe’s dock workers, who last walked out 30 years ago.

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