Rail strikes closed four out of every five London railway lines today, adding to major disruptions caused by ice and cold weather.
The RMT rail union staged their first rail strike today, disrupting Network Rail and 14 other train companies. Railway lines that are operating are only operating between 7.30 am and 6.30 pm.
The London Overground is running a “reduced service”, offering no Night Overground. There have also been no Overground services between Romford and Upminister, and Barking and Barking Riverside, with many other sections of the network running just two trains an hour.
Southeastern Railway was also running a “limited service” today, affecting trains through Lewisham and adjoining south-east London boroughs:
The full details of the strikes and what they affect can be found on the Transport for London website here.
The impact of industrial action has come on top of existing chaos caused by an ice warning by the Met Office. Underground delays, for instance, caused by cold weather, are expected to continue as the Central, District, Northern and Piccadilly lines saw severe disruptions yesterday.
Further rail strikes are due on December 13, 14, 16, 17, 24, 25, 26 and 27 and on January 3, 4, 6 and 7. On strike days, roughly just 20% of services are expected to run.
The rail strikes have led to more East London residents using their cars, over public transport. Roads during this morning’s rush hour were subject to severe traffic delays, affecting bus timetables as well.
Up to 40,000 rail employees are predicted to be on strike today. Members of RMT claim their employer, Network Rail, is planning 2,500 future job cuts and is not offering pay rises in line with inflation. In real terms, this would result in a pay cut.
The RMT told Chronicle Live: “The rail companies have now proposed pay rates that are massively under the relevant rates of inflation, coming on top of the pay freezes of the past few years.”
Network Rail’s latest public offer consisted of a 5 per cent pay rise this year and a 4 per cent rise next year. To employees who are not managers or controllers, they are promising no compulsory redundancies until 2025.
RMT rejected this offer yesterday, with 63.6 per cent of members voting to continue industrial action instead.
Today though, Lynch struck a different tone during a BBC Breakfast interview. When asked if he saw “any glimmer of hope” in the negotiations, he said: “Yes. I think I know what needs to be done to create a settlement… We’re ready to make compromises.”
Members of the London bus union, Unite, have also announced strikes on December 16, 17, 24, 27, 31 and on January 4, 5, 10, 12, 16, 19, 25 and 26. Further Industrial action will also lead to a partial closure of the Bakerloo line and London Overground from December 17 to December 23 2022.
In response to strikes, the scale of which has been compared to the Winter of Discontent in 1978, the Prime Minister told PMQs last week that he is working on “new tough laws” to prevent strikes in the future.
