Train strike dates introduced throughout the UK

A second UK-wide rail strike is about to happen on 30 July.

Train drivers throughout eight operators who’re members of the Aslef union will stroll out for twenty-four hours.

It will come simply three days after a nationwide rail strike by RMT union members working at Network Rail and eight different practice operators on 27 July.

The industrial motion on 30 July will contain drivers at Arriva Rail London, Chiltern Railways, Greater Anglia, Great Western, Hull Trains, LNER, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains as a part of an ongoing dispute over pay.

Mick Whelan, Aslef basic secretary, stated: “We don’t want to go on strike – strikes are the result of a failure of negotiation – and this union, since I was elected GS in 2011, has only ever been on strike, until this year, for a handful of days.

“We don’t want to inconvenience passengers – not least because our friends and families use public transport, too, and we believe in building trust in the railways in Britain – and we don’t want to lose money by going on strike.

“But we’ve been forced into this position by the train companies, driven by the Tory government. The drivers at the companies where we are striking have had a real terms pay cut over the last three years – since April 2019.

“And these companies are offering us nothing, saying their hands have been tied by the government.”

The union is claiming that its members are being informed to take a “real terms” pay lower as a consequence of inflation “running ahead at 9 per cent, 10 per cent, and even 11 per cent this year”

“Strike action is, now, the only option available but we are always open to talks if the train companies, or the government, want to talk to us and make a fair and sensible offer,” added Mr Whelan.

The Independent has approached the Department for Transport for remark.