There will be more train strikes at the start of October after the Aslef union confirmed that train drivers at 12 companies will walk out. The train drivers previously took strike action on 30th July and 13th August, but the union says more strikes are happening after the train companies didn’t improve their offer.

The next strikes will take place on Saturday 1st and Wednesday 5th October — and as with previous strikes, expect some disruption in the evening before, and more disruption in the morning after until around 9am.

Mick Whelan, General Secretary, has commented to the media this morning, saying “We would much rather not be in this position. We don’t want to go on strike – withdrawing our labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for this trade union – but the train companies have been determined to force our hand.”

Drivers will be on strike at 12 companies:

• Avanti West Coast
• Chiltern Railways
• CrossCountry
• Greater Anglia
• Great Western Railway (GWR)
• Hull Trains
• LNER
• London Overground
• Northern Trains
• Southeastern
• TransPennine Express
• West Midlands Trains

A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said:  “The strikes are not in the long-term interests of rail workers or building a sustainable rail industry. We want to give our people a pay rise, but without the reforms we are proposing, we simply cannot deliver pay increases.  Revenue is still around 80% of pre-pandemic levels, no business can survive that scale of upheaval without implementing change.”