National rail strikes will extend into a 13th month after the train drivers’ union, Aslef, announced three more days of walk-outs plus an overtime ban.
Drivers working for over a dozen train operators, including all the key long-distance and commuter rail firms, will walk out on Friday 12 May, Wednesday 31 May and Saturday 3 June.
The first date will affect people travelling to Liverpool for the Eurovision Song Contest; the final takes place on Saturday 13 May.
The last date coincides with the FA Cup Final between Manchester United and Manchester City, which will be staged at Wembley in northwest London. Normally thousands of fans would be travelling by rail to the match. It will also affect racegoers travelling to Epsom Derby.
In addition, a series of overtime bans will cause some disruption.
Since June 2022, national rail strikes in a tangle of disputes about pay, job security and working arrangements have caused problems for tens of millions of train passengers. Stoppages have been called frequently, causing massive disruption and making advance travel planning difficult.
The main rail union, the RMT, has staged walk-outs on 24 days in the current wave of strikes, with Aslef stopping work on eight previous occasions.
These are the key questions and answers.
Who is striking and when?
Aslef has instructed all its train driver members working for 16 train operators to strike on Friday 12 May, Wednesday 31 May, and Saturday 3 June.
The train firms are those contracted by the Department for Transport. They include the leading intercity operators:
- Avanti West Coast
- CrossCountry
- East Midlands Railway
- Great Western Railway
- LNER
- TransPennine Express
The vast majority of London commuter operators will also be hit:
- Greater Anglia
- GTR (Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Southern, Thameslink)
- Southeastern
- South Western Railway
Operators focusing on the Midlands and north of England will be affected:
- Chiltern Railways
- Northern Trains
- West Midlands Trains
There will also be a ban on “non-contractual overtime” – on Saturday 13 May, from Monday 15 to Saturday 20 May inclusive, and on Thursday 1 June.
What will the effect be?
On each of the strike days, thousands of trains will be cancelled, wrecking travel plans for millions of passengers. During previous drivers’ strikes, some operators – Avanti West Coast and Southeastern, for example – have cancelled all…
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