Second 48 hour rail strike of the week continues
Rail staff from the RMT union are walking out across the country for a second day
Last updated 17th Dec 2022
Passengers are being warned not to travel on the rail network today, unless it's absolutely necessary.
RMT union members are into the second day of their latest 48-hour walkout because of a bitter dispute over pay and conditions.
Business Secretary Grant Shapps has defended the Government's approach to the public sector pay dispute as "fair and proper".
He said people will "all end up much worse off" if ministers award inflation-busting pay rises.
"I think with regard to these wage claims, what's happened is actually connected to the energy prices and the inflation that it's brought.
"What we've done is, I think, the right thing, which is to go to the independent pay review bodies and say to them, 'look, as ever, can you advise please'.
"We have accepted their advice - in the case of nurses, for example, it's worth at least £1,400 a year. I think that's a fair and proper way for the Government to proceed."
Train companies and National Rail have been warning anyone travelling to expect services to be busy both today and tomorrow, with timetables finishing a lot earlier than normal.
It comes as hospitals are being told to free up beds ahead of what's expected to be "extensive disruption" by striking ambulance staff in England and Wales next week.
Health chiefs have written to Trusts, saying patient transfer times from ambulances should be no longer than 15 minutes.
Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, says discharging patients from hospitals where possible ahead of NHS strikes will be "difficult".
"It's going to be really difficult to achieve.
"We always want it to be able to allow ambulances to return back to the frontline as quickly as possible. We've been struggling to do this for the last three years.
"To give you an idea of how big the problem is, in the last week, three quarters of emergency departments are holding ambulances with handover delays every day. And this is because our emergency departments are full."