UK railways grind to a halt as nationwide strike gets under way

Britain’s railways ground to a halt on Wednesday, causing disruption to millions of commuters, as ministers, union leaders and railway bosses traded angry recriminations over one of the country’s biggest rail strikes in decades.

Trains were stationary across most of the country, with only one in five services running overall and regional networks cut off altogether, as 40,000 workers who belong to the RMT rail union walked out. The union’s one-day strike follows three one-day walkouts last month, compounding weeks of chaos at ports and airports.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps and Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail, which manages the railway infrastructure, both accused union leaders of overriding negotiators after what they said were real signs of progress towards a deal on pay, job security and working conditions.

Haines said Network Rail workers had been offered an 8 per cent pay rise over two years with a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies and that he wanted this offer to be put to members.

“We think we were getting good progress and this has happened twice now when the negotiators go back and talk to the RMT executive and there is suddenly a shift in tone and we end up with more strikes,” Haines told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch described this as “propaganda” and said that, while there had been some progress in discussions with Network Rail, its offer amounted to 8 per cent over three years, not two, as salaries were frozen in 2021.

“There will be a massive change towards unsocial hours in the Network Rail part of the industry. They want to cut 50 per cent of the maintenance regime and do 50 per cent less inspections, which we believe is unsafe. They want to change all of the working practices of our members working in the maintenance part of the industry,” said Lynch, adding: “None of that is acceptable.”

The dispute comes as the government and the contenders to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister — former chancellor Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss — threaten to pare back trade unions’ powers and limit members’ ability to strike.

Lynch said Sunak and Truss were driving the Conservative party to “an extreme rightwing position” and that trade unionists faced a daily and “oppressive” onslaught from the party’s supporters.

Speaking on BBC radio shortly afterwards, Shapps accused the RMT of holding the country to ransom with what amounted to a “forever strike”.

“We need modernisation on our railways to make sure they can function in favour of the passengers,” he said. “The unions are stuck in a bygone era acting like dinosaurs. This time we can’t give in to it.”

Strike action is set to escalate in the coming weeks. A national walkout on Saturday by members of the train drivers’ union Aslef — which is locked in a pay dispute with train operating companies — is expected to cause further severe disruption, potentially affecting travel to sporting events, including the women’s Euro 2022 final.