A fresh round of national rail strikes has been organised for November, and they are also set to affect Transport for London (TfL) services.
Industrial action has disrupted train travel since the summer, as disputes over pay and working conditions rumble on, with no sign of an agreement being reached between unions and Network Rail.
Here’s how the upcoming strikes will impact the London Underground, Overground and Elizabeth line, as well as national services connecting to the capital.
When are the strikes in November?
The RMT has organised a fresh round of widespread strikes for Saturday 5, Monday 7 and Wednesday 9 November.
A strike had been planned for 3 November. However, the union said having been made aware of the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Day on that date, its executive decided to rearrange the action for the 9th.
In separate disputes, London Underground and Overground members, who work for Arriva Rail London, will strike on Thursday 10 November.
How will the strikes affect TfL services?
TfL is yet to release detailed information, which will be be made available nearer the time.
However, it has said the action on 5, 7 and 9 November “will affect London Overground and some Tube and Elizabeth line services”.
The 10 November strike will affect Tube and London Overground services, and could effectively shut down the Underground network.
How will national services be affected?
National RMT strikes have typically seen around 40,000 workers walk out across more than a dozen operators, effectively bringing the rail network to a standstill. Less than a fifth of trains ran on strike days.
We can expect similar levels of disruption for this next set of strikes.
Here are the operators confirmed to be affected:
- Avanti West Coast
- Chiltern Railways
- CrossCountry
- C2C
- East Midlands Railway
- Greater Anglia
- Great Western Railway
- GTR (including Gatwick Express)
- LNER
- Northern Trains
- South Western Railway
- Southeastern
- Transpennine Express
- West Midlands Trains
Many of these operators serve London, meaning travel to and from the capital will be disrupted.
Most operators will either be running no service or at very reduced levels, with trains starting later and ending earlier.
National Rail said: “The rail industry is working hard to minimise the effect that this will have on those dates, but it is inevitable that services will be disrupted. Services may also start later on the days after strike action.”
It added that it would update its journey planner nearer the time.
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Why are rail workers striking?
The RMT said Network Rail bosses had “reneged on their promises of an improved pay offer and sought to impose job cuts, more unsocial hours and detrimental changes to rosters”.
The RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “The dishonesty of Network Rail bosses has reached a new low in this national rail dispute.
“On the one hand they were telling our negotiators that they were prepared to do a deal while planning to torpedo negotiations by imposing unacceptable changes to our members terms and conditions.
“Our members are livid with these duplicitous tactics, and they will now respond in kind with sustained strike action.”
Reacting to the announcement, Network Rail’s chief negotiator, Tim Shoveller, said: “A two-year 8 per cent deal, with discounted travel and a new extended job guarantee to January 2025, is on the table ready to be put to our staff.
“Unfortunately, the leadership of the RMT seem intent on more damaging strikes rather than giving their members a vote on our offer.
“Our sector has a £2bn hole in its budget with many fewer passengers using our services.
“That reality is not going to change anytime soon and a fair and affordable and improved deal is on the table, ready to be implemented if our people were only offered the opportunity.”
