Around 40,000 RMT members employed by Network Rail and 15 train operating companies will strike for a further 24 hours on Saturday 8 October. The new strike date follows the announcement of the action last Saturday, timed to coincide with the start of the Conservative party conference, when train drivers in the Aslef union will also strike in the long-running dispute over pay and working conditions. Aslef drivers will also strike on Wednesday 5 October, the last day of the conference in Birmingham. The dispute appears to show no sign of resolution, despite tentative steps to establish dialogue between the government and unions, with new transport secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan already holding meetings with Aslef and RMT leaders. Mick Lynch, the RMT’s general secretary, said: “We welcome this more positive approach from the Government to work with us as a first step in finding a suitable settlement. However, as no new offer has been submitted, our members have no choice but to continue this strike action. “We will continue to negotiate in good faith, but employers and the government must understand that our industrial campaign will continue for as long as necessary.” Meanwhile, in better rail news, long-distance operator Avanti West Coast has said it is ready to bring more services back to its tired timetables. It will add around 10 trains a day on its busiest route between London and Manchester, around 40,000 extra seats a week from next Monday, and some extra services on the London to Birmingham route. After the wider timetable change in December, Avanti should normally run three trains an hour on the London to Manchester route, with Birmingham trains scheduled at least every half hour and restoring direct services to north Wales, it said company. Subscribe to Business Today Get ready for the business day – we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Avanti reduced its routes in August due to a lack of drivers willing to work on rest days. Now she says she has hired and trained 100 more drivers and seems confident that more will agree to work overtime. Barry Milsom, executive director of operations and security for Avanti West Coast, said: “We know we are not providing the service our customers rightly expect and we apologize for the huge disappointment and inconvenience this has caused. “The decision to reduce our timetable in August was not taken lightly, but our customers and communities deserve a reliable train service, so we are working hard to rebuild our timetable in a resilient and sustainable way. “Resolving this situation required a robust plan that allows us to gradually increase services without relying on train crew overtime. We are now in a position to begin providing this incremental increase in services, followed by a further increase in December.”
