Passengers are being urged to only travel by rail if necessary during a fresh wave of strikes in the long running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association are taking industrial action again, threatening more travel chaos across the country.
There is likely to be some disruption in the early morning of the day after each strike: Sunday 6 November 6, Tuesday November 8, and Thursday November 10 – as workers return to duties. Passengers traveling to Cardiff for the Wales v New Zealand rugby match on Saturday November 5, are advised not to travel by train to and from the match as the RMT and TSSA strikes will see most trains across the Wales and Borders network suspended.
“These strikes undermine the railway’s recovery from the pandemic and drive passengers away at a time when everyone involved in the railway should be focused on attracting more passengers and freight forwarders to the network, at the same time as building a railway fit for the future.“We urge the unions to either allow their members to vote on our offer or come to the negotiating table with a genuine willingness to compromise and help find solutions to the challenges our industry is facing.
“These damaging and unnecessary strikes not only disrupt passengers’ plans and undermine struggling businesses, but also harm the industry’s recovery with the June strikes costing the hospitality sector around half a billion pounds.