Rail strike to hit August bank holiday weekend

Members of the RMT union will strike for 24 hours on 23rd August and for 72 hours from 29th August.

First Great Western workers are set to strike across the Bank Holiday weekend in a row over jobs, services and safety concerns.

Last month First Great Western announced that modernisation work on the Great Western Main Line in the Bath area will mean that trains between Weymouth and Bristol and Weymouth and Bath will be disrupted and passengers will have to use replacement bus services.

The union said it had not received the assurances it required from FGW.

They are in dispute over the introduction of new Hitachi intercity trains.

Fleet maintenance workers will strike between 12.01am and 11.59pm on Saturday, August 29 and between 12.01am and 11.59pm on Monday, August 31.

“We congratulate our members for their rock solid support for the strike action last month and we know that they remain united and determined as we continue with our campaign on these crucial issues”.

Reading Festival (and its Leeds counterpart, of course) begins on Thursday 27th August, with most festival-goers travelling back on the Bank Holiday Monday morning.

The drivers” union Aslef accused LU of being “completely inflexible” over terms and conditions for the service, leaving it with “no other choice’ than to walk out.

This includes disputes over the proposed removal of buffet/restaurant auto facilities and plans to transfer door operation procedures from the guard to the driver.

There are going to be more strikes on Cornwall’s trains on one of the busiest weekends of the year. “These trains will help us deliver faster, more frequent services in the south west, and create an additional 1,000 peak-time seats a day for customers on the route”.

Rail services at Moreton and Honeybourne could be impacted by the industrial action. We have meetings scheduled with the RMT later this week.’.