Strikes will 'inflict further damage' warn rail bosses

South Western Railway say services will be impacted by today's ASLEF union industrial action - with CrossCountry and GWR services likely to be affected tomorrow

Across the country, trains on some of the busiest commuter routes in the country will not run today and stations will be closed because of a fresh strike by drivers in a long-running pay dispute.

The latest South Western Railway information can be found here

Yeovil Junction is among the places where the Aslef Union will be picketing today with sites in Bristol, Exeter and Penzance and Parr tomorrow.

Aslef said its members have not had a pay rise for five years and has accused the Government of "giving up" trying to resolve the dispute.

A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group said: "The rail industry is working hard to keep trains running but it is likely that services on some lines will be affected on the evening before and morning after each strike between May 7 and May 9 because many trains will not be in the right depots to start services the following day.

"We can only apologise to our customers for this wholly unnecessary strike action called by the Aslef leadership which will sadly disrupt journeys once again.

"It will also inflict further damage on an industry that is receiving up to an additional £54 million a week in taxpayer cash to keep services running, following the Covid downturn."

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "The Transport Secretary and rail minister have already facilitated a pay offer that would take train drivers' average salaries up to £65,000 - almost twice the UK average salary.

"Aslef are the only union left striking after the Government oversaw deals with all the other unions.

"Instead of causing passengers disruption, they should put this offer to their members and work with industry to end this dispute."

Meanwhile, engineers on the Croydon Tramlink went on strike on Sunday until 6am on Thursday in a separate pay dispute.

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