Rail passengers whose journeys are affected by the strikes scheduled for the end of June will receive a refund of the tickets they have purchased, said the head of the sector representing the train companies.
“If we are unable to provide service to our customers due to a strike, we will reimburse customers,” said Steve Montgomery, chairman of the Rail Delivery Group (GDR).
“We’re going to have to come up with a set of guidelines for people and how it will work, but we’ll be very flexible,” Montgomery, who is also CEO of First Rail, told BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
Railway workers belonging to the Railway, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will march on 21, 23 and 25 June, which is expected to close much of the national railway system for a week.
According to Montgomery, the GDR is looking to give advice to customers who intend to travel during the week of the strike, such as recommending that they travel the day before or after the march. He also asked the RMT to hold talks to “resolve” the issue.
Conservative MP Huw Merriman, chairman of Parliament’s select transport committee, called on the government to enact legislation that would have required a minimum rail service even during strikes.
“The Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto proposed that there should be a minimum service obligation because trains should run, as in France, Italy, Spain, during strikes, where between one-third and one-fifth of trains. “Merriman told Today.
“This legislation has not been implemented, so without it it will be difficult to negotiate with the unions if the trains stop.”
The planned industrial action, after a successful vote of 40,000 members via Network Rail and 13 train companies last month, will begin on Tuesday 21 June and will run on alternate days until Saturday, covering some of the days busiest of the week by rail since the pandemic rules were softened.
It will also host a week of major cultural events, such as the Glastonbury Festival, the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester and a Rolling Stones concert in London’s Hyde Park, as well as two by-elections.
The exit will also affect the railway industry’s largest outdoor exposure, Rail Live, which is scheduled for 22-23 June in Warwickshire.
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Mandatory redundancies among railway workers have not yet been threatened by Network Rail or train operators, but as the number of passengers remains stubbornly below pre-Covid levels, companies want to achieve annual savings of up to at £ 2 billion.
The RMT said the railway companies had not given any guarantees against the layoffs, while many of its members had frozen their salaries during the pandemic and had not yet been offered a pay raise.
Railway companies and the RMT have said they want to negotiate to try to prevent the strikes from continuing.