Rail passengers in Britain are enduring the longest and most damaging series of strikes since the 1980s.
They face further widespread disruption in the run-up to Christmas as further stoppages are called.
A sequence of industrial action will affect train travellers across Great Britain.
These are the key questions and answers.
When do the next strikes begin?
On Saturday 26 November, members of the train drivers’ union, Aslef, will walk out at 11 train operators. It will be the fifth national strike by drivers in a dispute over pay.
The affected rail firms are described by the unions as “DfT train operating companies” – the private and public enterprises contracted by the Department for Transport (DfT) to operate specific services. Six of the train operators are primarily intercity:
- Avanti West Coast
- CrossCountry
- East Midlands Railway
- Great Western Railway
- LNER
- TransPennine Express
The remaining five are mainly regional operators:
- Chiltern
- Greater Anglia
- Northern
- Southeastern
- West Midlands Trains
The strike will trigger widespread cancellations – affecting Rugby fans heading for the last of the autumn internationals in Cardiff and Twickenham, and potentially millions more prospective travellers.
But several key operators are not involved, including GTR (which runs Great Northern, Southern and Thameslink), South Western Railway, ScotRail and Transport for Wales. They should run normally, though trains that duplicate links on strike-hit operators are likely to be busier than usual.
For example, Transport for Wales trains run on the Swansea-Cardiff-Newport corridor, and between Crewe and Manchester will feel extra pressure without GWR and Avanti West Coast services on these routes respectively.
Some of the strike-hit operators will still run trains. Great Western Railway will run an hourly service between London Paddington and Bristol during the main part of the day, but trains will not call at Bath – the location of a popular Christmas market.
LNER will run a service every two hours between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh, and a single journey each way between London and Leeds.
TransPennine Express will run four trains each way between York and Manchester Piccadilly; three each way between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool Lime Street; and two each way between Sheffield and Cleethorpes.
Other operators are likely to cancel all trains….
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