Passengers are facing a weekend of interrupted train services as Saturday marks the third and final 24-hour stage of the biggest rail strike in 30 years.
Railway companies have repeatedly asked people to avoid traveling unless necessary, with only 20% of trains expected to operate in a limited window.
Sunday services will start later and will be slightly reduced. Passengers with advance tickets will be able to use them until Tuesday or get a full refund.
While many travelers have opted to work from home during the week, leaving many of the few trains running only partially busy, train companies anticipate busier services over the weekend.
Some have explicitly asked passengers to stay away from their services, and TransPennine told anyone going to events like the Test cricket match in Leeds to use alternative transport.
However, Great Western Railway expects to offer 11 live specials to return attendees to the Glastonbury festival in London on Sunday.
On Saturday, 40,000 members of the RMT union will go on strike in a dispute over wages and railway conditions. Rail revenue remains about £ 2bn below pre-pandemic levels and the government has told Network Rail and train operating companies to find savings by “modernizing” to fund pay offers.
The union has been offered a package worth 3%, but inflation reached 9.1% – or 11.7% of the measure commonly used to determine railway salaries – this week. Talks will continue in London to try to reach an agreement, but sources have indicated that little progress is being made.
Network Rail has said it intends to move forward with changes to the maintenance regime under which 1,800 jobs would be lost, and that it will make mandatory layoffs if necessary. The RMT has demanded that the threat be removed.
Train operators intend to “reuse” all ticket offices within 18 months to save costs, and customers are expected to purchase tickets online or through a machine.
Unions and Workers have called on the government to join the direct talks, but Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has insisted it is a matter for employers.
The RMT has not yet called for more strikes, but Aslef union train drivers will go on strike next week at Croydon tram services and next weekend at Greater Anglia rail services. The TSSA union is organizing more strike votes.
London Underground workers may go on strike again this summer after voting to renew the strike mandate for another six months.
Shapps said the RMT’s action was “harming the very people they claim to be defending.” He said: “This week has also shown that general rail strikes are not as effective a tool for unions as they were before. The only chaos these strikes are causing is not in our transport system, but in the day to day. day of working people and companies across the country.
“Instead of being at pickets, union representatives should return to the bargaining table and agree on an agreement to bring our rail industry into the 21st century.”
The RMT has said its campaign will continue until an agreement is reached for its members, with Lynch saying Shapps “must enter the room or get out of the way.”