UK train drivers vote for further round of strikes

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Passengers on the national rail network and London Underground face a period of fresh disruption after train drivers voted to launch a new round of industrial action.

The Aslef union on Wednesday announced a programme of one-day rolling strikes in April and May with the aim of increasing pressure on 16 train companies for a pay rise.

The news of the likely fresh disruption on the rail network came as northern leaders formally called on the transport secretary to strip ailing rail operator Avanti West Coast of its recently extended contract, accusing the group of “inflicting huge damage” on the region’s economy over the past two years. 

Avanti runs mainline routes between London and big cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. It has been plagued by problems since the Covid-19 pandemic, including sustained industrial relations disputes and driver shortages.

In summer 2022, the rail operator slashed its timetable between Manchester and London from three services an hour to one as a result of ongoing disruptions.

At a meeting in Leeds, Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester mayor, noted that just 37.2 per cent of Avanti’s trains arrived on schedule in the quarter that followed the company’s contract extension, compared with 62.2 per cent nationally, according to data from the Office of Road and Rail. This made it the worst performing operator nationally.

Last September, the government handed Avanti a long-term contract to operate services between London and major UK cities, but since then business and political leaders have expressed growing anger at its performance. 

“Your company has inflicted huge damage on our economy for coming up to two years now,” said Burnham, addressing Avanti’s managing director Andy Mellors and Steve Montgomery, chief executive of the operator’s owners FirstGroup. 

Transport secretary Mark Harper agreed a contract extension of up to nine years in September 2023. More than 11 per cent of services were cancelled between October and January, and in December the operator reduced its timetable again, blaming a lack of drivers. 

Montgomery insisted Avanti was affected by industry-wide problems that were a “collective issue”, including infrastructure and industrial relations. He said the operator had received new Hitachi trains and was on course to improve performance. 

The assembled cross-party group of northern leaders voted unanimously to advise Harper to strip Avanti of its contract and hand services to the government-owned Operator of Last Resort. 

Meanwhile, drivers who belong to the Aslef union will walk out on April 5, 6 or 8 depending on which operator employs them:

• Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, West Midlands Trains and CrossCountry on Friday 5 April

• Chiltern, GWR, LNER, Northern, and TransPennine Trains on Saturday 6 April

• c2c, Greater Anglia, GTR Great Northern Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway main line and depot drivers, and SWR Island Line on Monday 8 April

Drivers will also refuse to work overtime on days in and around the period.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said the Conservative government and train operators had “given us no choice”, saying they refused to negotiate after members rejected a pay offer in April last year.

“Nobody wins when industrial action impacts people’s lives and livelihoods, and we will work hard to minimise any disruption to our passengers,” the Rail Delivery Group, which represents the industry, said.

Train drivers on the London Underground have voted to strike on two days in the next two months, marking a return to industrial action on the network for the first time since last year.

Aslef said more than 98 per cent of tube train drivers in the union had voted to strike over “London Underground’s failure to give assurances that changes to our members’ terms and conditions will not be imposed without agreement”.

It said plans being drawn up by the network’s management were “about getting people to work harder and longer for less”, and that strikes had been scheduled for April 8 and May 4.

TfL has been contacted for comment.