News / Transport
Bank Holiday rail strike planned to go ahead
A planned rail strike by the RMT union is due to go ahead this Bank Holiday weekend.
It follows a 24-hour strike that took place on Sunday, “solidly supported” by RMT members according to its leader Mick Cash, and a previous 48-hour strike in July relating to an ongoing dispute with First Great Western.
The dispute is over the planned introduction of the Hitachi Super Express Trains on the First Great Western (FGW) main line from 2017, running on routes between London Paddington and Oxford, South Wales and Bristol.
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The RMT fears that both guards and buffet cars are at risk. Whilst talks have taken place between RMT and FGW, so far only “limited progress” has been made, with Cash adding that, “no agreement has yet been reached on the major issues at the heart of this dispute”.
The result of the most recent strike led to disruption on Sunday, with over half of the company’s inter city services being cancelled, though according to FGW, 70 percent of its trains ran a normal service.
FGW have stated that they “remain hopeful” that they can reach an agreement with RMT so that the rail strike can be preventedm nevertheless, a revised timetable has been scheduled for the forthcoming weekend.
No service during the strike will run between Severn Beach and Bristol Temple Meads, but tickets will be accepted on certain bus routes, with further information on the FGW website. FGW has also warned commuters to expect last trains of the day to leave “significantly earlier than usual”, while food and drinks services on-board trains to be limited.