On Wednesday, there won’t be any trains in England because most services are being disrupted by a train driver’s strike. The penultimate day of the Conservative party conference in Manchester is when members of the Aslef union will go on strike for a second time in four days. No trains will run on the majority of English routes due to the strike, which is Aslef’s 14th stoppage since the conflict began in June 2022 across all railway operators contracted to the Department for Transport. Cross-border services to Wales and Scotland will also be impacted. On Wednesday, there won’t be any trains in England because most services are being disrupted by a train driver’s strike.

Rail

On Wednesday, there won’t be any trains in England because most services are being disrupted by a train driver’s strike.

The penultimate day of the Conservative party conference in Manchester is when members of the Aslef union will go on strike for a second time in four days. No trains will run on the majority of English routes due to the strike, which is Aslef’s 14th stoppage since the conflict began in June 2022 across all railway operators contracted to the Department for Transport. Cross-border services to Wales and Scotland will also be impacted. There won’t be many train companies operating any services, including Great Western, Greater Anglia, Southern, and LNER.

Rail

Cross-border services to Wales and Scotland will also be impacted.

Because of the strike, there was a chance that the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, may announce in his conference speech that future HS2 high-speed rail services between London and Manchester would be cancelled on a day when there were no intercity trains running between the two cities. Following more than four years without a pay increase for train drivers, Aslef stated that it was targeting the governing party’s convention. Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan claimed that after the union rejected a “risible” offer in April, there have been no more discussions with the government or rail companies.

Rail

There won’t be many train companies operating any services, including Great Western, Greater Anglia, Southern, and LNER.

Further negotiations could only take place if drivers agreed to alter working conditions, according to the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators. Whelan joined others who opposed the scrapping of HS2’s northern leg, stating that it “doesn’t make sense”. There is no use in everything we have already done to develop it if you don’t finish it now, he said. Drivers will still be prohibited from working overtime through Friday, which may force some operators to cut back on their timetables and raise the possibility of additional last-minute cancellations.