Commuters warned of early shutdown to rail services due to strikes
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Commuters are being warned that trains will stop running much earlier than normal on Thursday because of strikes.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at 14 train operating companies walked out in a long-running row over pay, jobs and conditions.
Trains started later than normal, at about 7.30am, and will finish earlier than usual, at around 6.30pm.
This has affected operators such as CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, Northern and Southeastern.
Across Britain, between 40-50% of normal weekday services were expected to run, but some areas have had no trains all day.
Disruption is likely to continue into Friday as many trains will not be at the usual depots overnight.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the dispute is “stuck in a deadlock” because the latest offer is “underfunded”.
He told the PA news agency: “The Government backs up the train operating companies and gives them their mandate.
“They’ve offered a pay proposal that’s 5% for last year and 4% for the coming year, which is way below the rate of inflation.
“But they’ve said all of those pay increases such as they are – which amount to pay cuts – have got to be funded by changes to our members’ working conditions.
“So it’s a self-funded pay rise really, and that’s very difficult for us because the conditions they’re putting on that deal are just not acceptable to our people.
“So we’re stuck in a deadlock really where the offer is underfunded, the conditions are not acceptable and we haven’t got a way forward.”
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, claimed the RMT has “blocked the chance to resolve this dispute” by not putting the latest offer to a vote of its members.
A Department for Transport spokesperson urged the RMT to “put the Rail Delivery Group’s very fair offer to a democratic vote of their members”.
