Click here to listen to the latest rail news on Friday, 1st December 2023
InTheNews: The latest rail news on Friday, 1st December 2023
Rail workers have voted to accept a deal to end their long-running dispute over pay and conditions.
An article on Sky News says members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union have agreed to an offer from train companies for a backdated pay rise of 5% for 2022-2023 and job security guarantees.
It follows a bitter 18-month row with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and the government, resulting in regular strike action which has caused chaos for passengers.
The deal means RMT’s mandate to strike has been withdrawn, so there will be no more walkouts until at least spring next year.
Sticking with strikes and members of Aslef at 16 train operating companies will refuse to work overtime from Friday until December 9 and will stage a series of strikes between December 2 and 8.
An article on Yahoo News says train companies said they will operate as many trains as possible but there will be wide regional variations, with some operators running no services at all on strike days.
Train passengers are being advised to avoid travelling next week due to emergency works to repair a landslip.
An article on the BBC website says services will be significantly reduced between Woking and Basingstoke from Friday 8 December to Sunday 10 December – affecting routes to Salisbury, Southampton and Bournemouth – Network Rail said.
It follows the discovery of cracks of up to 45m (148ft) long and 1m (3ft) deep in places in a slope next to the railway near Woking.
Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed that the latest figures show that the Tube reached 4 million journeys last Thursday, a further step towards ridership returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Last week (19 – 25 November 2023), 24.78 million Tube journeys were completed, with Thursday seeing the highest number of Tube journeys with around 4.05 million, demonstrating a further milestone for London’s transport network as it rebounds following the pandemic.
Photo credit: Network Rail
