{"id":189569,"date":"2023-12-07T07:56:41","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T07:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/?p=189569"},"modified":"2023-12-07T07:56:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T07:56:41","slug":"more-rail-strikes-chaos-with-severe-disruption-to-heathrow-express","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsneednews.com\/world-news\/more-rail-strikes-chaos-with-severe-disruption-to-heathrow-express\/","title":{"rendered":"More rail strikes chaos with severe disruption to Heathrow Express"},"content":{"rendered":"
Trains to the country’s busiest airport will be among services disrupted on Thursday because of ongoing strikes by drivers in a long-running pay dispute.<\/p>\n
Members of Aslef have launched a rolling programme of walkouts and a ban on overtime, which has caused travel chaos since the weekend.<\/p>\n
Busy commuter routes into London from southern England were affected by walkouts on Wednesday following strikes at the weekend and on Tuesday in other parts of the country.<\/p>\n
Train drivers on CrossCountry, Great Western Railway and Heathrow Express will strike on Thursday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A South Western Railway train in a siding near Basingstoke Railway station in Hampshire<\/p>\n
CrossCountry, which has the most extensive rail network in the UK – stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance, and from Stansted to Cardiff – will run no trains.<\/p>\n
Great Western Railway services will operate only between 7am and 7pm, with limited routes open.<\/p>\n
The frequency of the Heathrow Express will be halved from four trains an hour to two and it will not run before 7am or after 7.15pm.<\/p>\n
Aslef members at Northern Rail and TransPennine Express will strike on Friday, causing the cancellation of all services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Commuters and passengers at Waterloo Railway Station in London<\/p>\n
A week-long ban on overtime by Aslef members at all the train operators involved in the dispute will end this weekend.<\/p>\n
Aslef has been in dispute for more than 18 months in protest at a pay offer worth 8% over two years.<\/p>\n
Train operators and the Government have urged the union to put the offer to a ballot of its members.<\/p>\n
Aslef says regular re-ballots of its members which have returned overwhelming votes for continuing with strikes show strong support for the campaign for an improved pay offer.<\/p>\n
No talks have been held for months, and the union has criticised the government’s role in the dispute, saying no meetings have been held with the Transport Secretary for a year.<\/p>\n