Train strikes: Which rail and Tube services are affected on October 8?

Oliver Gill
·4 min read
A view of a nearly empty concourse at Waterloo railway station on the second day of the biggest national rail strike in Britain in 30 years in London, United Kingdom on June 23, 2022 - Anadolu Agency
A view of a nearly empty concourse at Waterloo railway station on the second day of the biggest national rail strike in Britain in 30 years in London, United Kingdom on June 23, 2022 - Anadolu Agency

Rail unions are staging more train strikes in a row over pay and working practices today.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers' union (RMT) and National Rail staff are set to walkout on Saturday Oct 8. It is the latest in a series of strikes by rail workers, which have included walk-outs by Aslef and TSSA members.

Union leaders had called off a truce with company bosses after cancelling industrial action during the period of national mourning after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

What days are the train strikes happening?

Which train operators will be affected?

RMT members will walk out on:

  • Chiltern Railways

  • Cross Country Trains

  • Greater Anglia

  • LNER

  • East Midlands Railway

  • c2c

  • Great Western Railway

  • Hull Trains

  • Northern Trains

  • South Eastern

  • South Western

  • Railway Transpennine Express

  • Avanti West Coast

  • West Midlands Trains

  • GTR (including Gatwick Express as well as Network Rail)

Network Rail workers will also be on strike on October 8.

Transport for London has warned passengers that the Overground will also be impacted, as well as the Bakerloo, District and Elizabeth lines.

What are workers striking over?

RMT members are in dispute over both wages and plans for sweeping reforms to working practices.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The Summer of Solidarity we have seen will continue into the Autumn and Winter if employers and the government continue to refuse workers reasonable demands.

“We want a settlement to these disputes where our members and their families can get a square deal.  And we will not rest until we get a satisfactory outcome.”

Aslef members were walking out in a row over wages only.

General secretary Mick Whelan said: “They are telling train drivers to take a real terms pay cut. With inflation now running at 12.3pc – and set, it is said, to go higher – these companies are saying that drivers should be prepared to work just as hard, for just as long, but for considerably less.”

Will there be more Tube strikes in 2022?

More London Underground disruption is likely as a pay row between Transport for London (TfL) and union RMT rolls on.

The RMT warned on August 31 that more Tube strikes could occur, as it complained workers’ pay and pensions were at risk in a funding deal with the Government designed to secure TfL's operations until 2024.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “This deal negotiated in secret by TfL and government ministers will likely see our members’ pensions attacked and further pay restraint in the future, coupled with driverless trains.”

At the Tory Party Conference, transport secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan urged trade unions to take a seat “at the negotiating table”.

“Punishing passengers and inflicting damage on our economy by striking is not the answer,” she said.

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?

Anne-Marie Trevelyan said there was a “deal to be done” between the unions and train operators to avert more damaging strikes this winter.

"This is not about cutting jobs – this is about putting the passenger at the heart of the railway”, she said.

She stressed that any agreement “will require compromise”, unlike her predecessor in the post Grant Shapps who notably took a harder stance.

Talks between union leaders on one side and train companies and Network Rail ground to a halt during the period of national mourning.

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.

Eleven trade unions have launched legal action for a judicial review into the plans.

Grant Shapps, the former transport secretary, has previously condemned 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.

This article is kept updated with the latest information.