Rail unions industrial and strike action 2024

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Next round of dates announced by ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about).  These will be the first that adhere to the Minimum Service Level legislation recently introduced:

Strikes & Non-compulsory overtime ban dates

Avanti West Coast
Strike day: Saturday 3 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6 February.
 
C2C
Strike day: Friday 2 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

Chiltern Railways
Strike day: Monday 5 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

CrossCountry
Strike day: Monday 5 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

East Midlands Railway
Strike day: Saturday 3 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

Great Western Railway
Strike day: Monday 5 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

Greater Anglia
Strike day: Friday 2 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

GTR Great Northern Thameslink
Strike day: Tuesday 30 January 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

Island Line
Strike day: Tuesday 30 January 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about)
Strike day: Friday 2 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

Northern Trains
Strike day: Wednesday 31 January 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

South Western Railway Depot Drivers
Strike day: Tuesday 30 January 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

South Western Railway Mainline
Strike day: Tuesday 30 January 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

Southeastern
Strike day: Tuesday 30 January 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

Southern/Gatwick Express
Strike day: Tuesday 30 January 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

Transpennine Trains
Strike day: Wednesday 31 January 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

West Midlands Trains
Strike day: Saturday 3 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until23:59 Tuesday 6 February.

[grahame]

Next round of dates announced by ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about). 

[snip]

Great Western Railway
Strike day: Monday 5 February 00:01 - 23:59.
No non-compulsory overtime from 00:01 Monday 29 January until 23:59 Tuesday 6February.

I fear I should add "2024" to the subject line.  Is "2025" being too pessimistic?

[a-driver]

These will be the first that adhere to the Minimum Service Level legislation recently introduced

Early days but it appears some TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) aren’t planning on using that MSL^▸ (Miniature Stop Lights (foot crossing))’s. Some are already stating there will be no service.

[grahame]

These will be the first that adhere to the Minimum Service Level legislation recently introduced

Early days but it appears some TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) aren’t planning on using that MSL^▸ (Miniature Stop Lights (foot crossing))’s. Some are already stating there will be no service.

LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) *are* planning to use it - and as a result (as I'm reading it), ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) are stepping or considering stepping up their LNER strike. From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

LNER train drivers to strike for five more days

[a-driver]

These will be the first that adhere to the Minimum Service Level legislation recently introduced

Early days but it appears some TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) aren’t planning on using that MSL^▸ (Miniature Stop Lights (foot crossing))’s. Some are already stating there will be no service.

LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) *are* planning to use it - and as a result (as I'm reading it), ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) are stepping or considering stepping up their LNER strike. From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

LNER train drivers to strike for five more days

Did LNER drop the ball here or was it deliberate?

The TOCs have to give the unions 7 days notice if they want to impose a minimum service level. The union needs to give 14 days notice of strike action.
You would have thought LNER would have waited until the last minute before informing ASLEF

[grahame]

LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) *are* planning to use it - and as a result (as I'm reading it), ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) are stepping or considering stepping up their LNER strike. From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

LNER train drivers to strike for five more days

Update from the BBC - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68054064

Train drivers' union Aslef has called off five consecutive days of strikes on LNER services that were set to begin next month.

The action affecting LNER, which operates on the East Coast Mainline, was scheduled to start on 5 February.

However, walkouts by train drivers for many rail operators will still take place between 30 January and 5 February in a row over pay and conditions.

LNER drivers will join in one day of strikes during that period.

A source told the BBC that Aslef had called off the extra five days of action because LNER had told the union that it no longer intended to put minimum service levels (MSLs^▸ (Miniature Stop Lights (foot crossing))) in place.

LNER had planned to implement the measure on 2 February, during a period of widespread strike action that will affect 16 train operators.

Under new laws, employers can require staff who are planning to walkout to provide 40% of timetabled rail services.

[TaplowGreen]

Looking for a bit of advice on behalf of a friend who is looking to travel from Westbury to Paddington (and back!) on Monday - is the overtime ban likely to have much impact on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services in the morning/evening peak?

He's trying to decide whether to make the effort.

Appreciate that this may be a difficult one to call but any advice would be most welcome.

[grahame]

Looking for a bit of advice on behalf of a friend who is looking to travel from Westbury to Paddington (and back!) on Monday - is the overtime ban likely to have much impact on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services in the morning/evening peak?

He's trying to decide whether to make the effort.

Appreciate that this may be a difficult one to call but any advice would be most welcome.

Personal reply - I would go for it, but travel up a train or two earlier than I needed for my appointments of whatever I was doing, and then expect that I might be a train or two behind my ideal.  But then that is me / I am relatively robust.

[IndustryInsider]

Sounds like good advice to me, Graham.

But, Monday 5th is the actual strike day, not an overtime ban day.  This time of year an overtime ban is unlikely to have much effect, apart from on a Sunday when it will result in widespread disruption as before.  So avoid Sunday 4th Feb and then the actual strike day on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will also be badly disrupted.

[grahame]

Sounds like good advice to me, Graham.

But, Monday 5th is the actual strike day, not an overtime ban day.  This time of year an overtime ban is unlikely to have much effect, apart from on a Sunday when it will result in widespread disruption as before.  So avoid Sunday 4th Feb and then the actual strike day on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will also be badly disrupted.

Yours is good advice for Monday 5th - mine (I may have misread the question) was for next Monday, 29th January.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, if it was Monday 29th your advice is perfect.

[TaplowGreen]

Yes, if it was Monday 29th your advice is perfect.

The question was in respect of the 29th but thanks both.

[grahame]

Advice from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway):

Dear Graham
 
We wrote to you last week about ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) (train drivers union) industrial action starting today (Monday 29 January) until Tuesday 6 February, with a strike at GWR on Monday 5 February and action short of a strike for the other affected days.
 
This means that we are now only able to run a very limited high-speed service this Sunday 4 February, as we have fewer drivers available to work – especially on our long-distance services. As such, some parts of the GWR network will have no service at all, including all long distance trains out of London Paddington to Bristol, South Wales, and the South West. There will be no replacement bus services in lieu of these services in operation either.
 
Customers are advised to travel before the weekend or after Sunday. Where we can run services (and we expect to this include most of our local services), only a limited number of trains will run, they will be much busier than usual, and services will be subject to short notice alteration or cancellations.
 
Online journey planners should now be updated and accurate. Customers with tickets for travel from Tuesday 30 January to Monday 5 February can use these to travel from today (Monday 29 January) up to and including Wednesday 7 February.
 
Passengers aiming to travel from now until Tuesday 6 February should check before they travel using www.gwr.com/check. 
 
For full information please visit our dedicated strike page www.gwr.com/strike, which also includes information on refunds.
 
If you can share this amongst your networks, we would be greatly appreciative, and apologies for the disruption and the further difficult news. If there’s anything we can do to help, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
 
Best wishes
 
Tom
 

Shared, as requested.

[ChrisB]

As for the long distance network, it's effected more on Sunday than on the actual strike day Monday. I hope the Cardiff rugby passes off well on Saturday night & everyone gets to where they want to be.

[Timmer]

With SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) down as running a pretty normal Sunday service, journey planners are showing Cardiff-Bristol-Bath to London via Salisbury for Waterloo and South West to London changing onto SWR services at Exeter for Waterloo.

I wonder what, if anything SWR will do, particularly at Exeter to manage this? Am I right in saying they cannot running anything longer than x2 159s between Exeter and Salisbury?