When are the next train strike dates in July and August and will I be affected?

Despite members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT) having been offered a 5pc pay rise, heavily discounted train travel for family members and cash bonuses of up to £900 each in a scramble to prevent further strikes, they have announced another walk-out on July 27.

Less than 48 hours’ later, train drivers’ union Aslef will strike over pay, while the RMT have announced two further days of strike action on August 18 and August 20, affecting 14 train operators and Network Rail and involving 40,000 staff.

Meanwhile members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) have also backed July industrial action in recent days.

As little as one in 10 trains would be able to run during the Aslef strike on July 30, even worse than the one in five trains left running during three days of RMT action in June. It marks the first national walkout since 1995.

The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), which represents station and ticket office workers, said Southeastern workers will also be striking over pay, job security and conditions.

Plans to strike were announced shortly after some Aslef union members voted to accept a 5pc pay offer, plus bonuses, from ScotRail, halting the potential for walkouts in Scotland.

At the end of July, ballots will close for strike action at Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and Direct Rail Services.

Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, said: “We don’t want to go on strike – strikes are the result of a failure of negotiation – and this union, since I was elected GS in 2011, has only ever been on strike, until this year, for a handful of days.

“But we’ve been forced into this position by the train companies, driven by the Tory government. The drivers at the companies where we are striking have had a real terms pay cut over the last three years – since April 2019.”

Here’s what you need to know about the RMT and Aslef strikes on July 27 and July 30, and other potential union strike action.

When is the next train strike happening?

• Wednesday 27 July
• Saturday 30 July
• Thursday 18 August
• Saturday 20 August

On Wednesday 13 July 2022, it was announced that Network Rail and RMT staff will next strike on July 27 for 24 hours. On July 14, Aslef announced its train drivers would walk out on Saturday, July 30, leaving just one in 10 trains running.

Two further RMT strikes are set to take place on August 18 and 20 in a protest over job security, pay and working conditions. 

Which rail operators will be affected?

Arriva Rail London, Chiltern Railways, Greater Anglia, Great Western, Hull Trains, LNER, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains services will be affected by the July 30 Aslef strikes.

Southeastern, which is wholly owned by the Department for Transport (DfT) and runs train services between London and Kent, as well as parts of East Sussex, will be hit by the TSSA strikes. Stations potentially hit include London St Pancras, Victoria, Charing Cross and Cannon Street, as well as Dover Priory, Ramsgate, Ashford International, Dartford and Sevenoaks.

The RMT rail strikes in August will affect Network Rail, as well as the following operators: Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c, Great Western Railway, Northern Trains, South Eastern, South Western Railway Transpennine Express, Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and GTR (including Gatwick Express).

The TSSA is also currently balloting members at West Midlands Trains, Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, TransPennine Express for industrial action.

Will the Tube be affected by more strikes?

The London Underground came to a 24-hour standstill on June 21 2022 when RMT members decided to go on strike in a row over how Transport for London is cutting running costs.

So far the RMT has not announced another Tube strike this summer, but members renewed their strike mandate on June 24, meaning they have the right to strike again at a date set by the union’s National Executive Committee

RMT leader Mick Lynch said: “Transport for London and the Mayor of London need to seriously rethink their plans for hundreds of job cuts and trying to take hard-earned pensions from workers who serve the people of London on a daily basis.”

Meanwhile, overnight action continues to affect the Central, Jubilee, Northern and Victoria lines every Friday and Saturday until December 6.

What are workers striking over?

The Aslef strikes are all about pay. Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, argues that members have not had a pay rise since 2019.

“We want an increase in line with the cost of living – we want to be able to buy, in 2022, what we could buy in 2021 – for those members – who were, you will remember, the people who moved key workers and goods around the country during the pandemic,” he said.

The August RMT train strikes (and the July 27 rail strike) are the latest in the union’s dispute over job security, pay and working conditions. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The rail industry and the Government need to understand that this dispute will not simply vanish.

“They need to get serious about providing an offer on pay which helps deal with the cost-of-living crisis, job security for our members and provides good conditions at work.

“Recent proposals from Network Rail fell well short on pay and on safety around maintenance work. And the train operating companies have not even made us a pay offer in recent negotiations.

“We remain open for talks, but we will continue our campaign until we reach a negotiated settlement.”

Meanwhile TSSA members are protesting over pay, jobs and conditions.

“If ministers had any sense they would come to the table and sort this out, so we have a fair settlement for workers who were hailed as heroes in the pandemic,” said TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes.

Can I get a refund or travel on another service if my train is cancelled?

According to consumer group Which?, the process differs based on which train company someone is travelling with, and customers can “only claim compensation during a rail strike for a delay based on the replacement or emergency timetable for train or replacement bus services”.

What is the Government doing about it?

The Government has already threatened new minimum service requirements that would require a certain number of trains to run during a strike. However, ministers have warned it could take months to draw up the new laws.

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary who has dropped out of the race to be the next Tory leader, was quick to condemn the strikes.

“On a salary of almost £60,000, it isn’t fair for train drivers to hurt those on lower wages with more walkouts,” he wrote on Twitter.