The latest on rail strikes as 40,000 rail workers are taking a stand after talks failed to resolve a dispute over pay, jobs, and conditions; Only around one in five trains will run on Wednesday, on around half the network, with some areas having no trains all day.
Wednesday 27 July 2022 20:05, UK
With more strikes coming up (see our previous post for more details), some passengers are complaining their trains have already been cancelled - leaving their plans in tatters.
Commuters and holidaymakers will face more disruption in the coming weeks as more strike action is planned.
Here's a reminder of what is happening...
Saturday 30 July
Thousands of train drivers at seven rail companies will strike on this day, coinciding with the Commonwealth Games and the first day of the English Football League season.
Workers from these companies will be on strike:
Saturday 13 August
Aslef members at nine rail companies, including Avanti West Coast and Cross Country, will strike.
Thursday 18 and Saturday 20 August
RMT members are set to strike again, along with the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA).
Staff with seven companies will go on strike:
Staff at West Midlands Trains, Northern, Greater Anglia, TransPennine Express and Southeastern will also take part in industrial action.
19 August
London Underground staff are planning to strike over jobs and pensions.
Members of the RMT have walked out over a dispute about jobs, pay, pensions and working conditions.
Network Rail offered a 4% pay rise for the remainder of the year, and a possible 4% pay rise next year if workers accepted changes in job conditions, but this was rejected by union bosses.
Instead, the RMT is calling for a pay rise of at least 7% - which is still below the current rate of inflation at 9.4%.
Strike action will continue if no further offers are made, the union has said.
Meanwhile, Network Rail has said RMT bosses are refusing to take any offers made to their members.
"We've made some offers, but none of them have been put to their members which is quite unfair,鈥� Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy told LBC.
"We need to modernise the railway鈥� not every part of this package will be welcome to everybody, but if the union says we want no compulsory redundancy, we think we can offer that."
The RMT also argued that Network Rail is planning to cut 2,500 maintenance jobs in a bid to save money.
Network Rail says there would be no more than 2,000 job losses and that all redundancies will be voluntary.
Shadow transport minister Sam Tarry has been sacked from the frontbench.
The Labour MP appeared at an RMT picket line earlier and also spoke in media interviews, despite being ordered not to do so.
A Labour Party spokesperson said the sacking "isn't about appearing on a picket line".
"Members of the frontbench sign up to collective responsibility. That includes media appearances being approved and speaking to agreed frontbench positions," they said.
"As a government in waiting, any breach of collective responsibility is taken extremely seriously and for these reasons Sam Tarry has been removed from the frontbench."
Speaking to Sky News earlier, Mr Tarry had said: "This isn't about me and what happens to me."
Twitter users affected by today's rail strikes have described being unable to get home and having to cancel plans or miss work.
Commuters are set for rail misery as the Aslef union has announced a strike on 13 August.
Train drivers at nine rail companies will be walking out over pay.
A separate strike is already planned for this Saturday.
The union said train companies had failed to make a pay offer that would keep pace with rising living costs.
In its latest tweet, the Labour Party has said today's rail strike "could have been avoided" if the government had intervened on talks between union bosses and Network Rail.
It said Transport Secretary Grant Shapps "hasn't spent a single second in talks".
And he's unlikely to, after he earlier told journalists he would never hold talks with the RMT union to end rail strikes.
Empty platforms at London Waterloo...
And more disruption at London Bridge.
Richard Burgon also appeared to be at the picket line today, becoming the latest Labour MP to defy orders from the top.
MPs Sam Tarry and Kate Osborne also joined rail workers today and tweeted their support.
