Rail strike commences on Northern routes

Rail Union RMT has begun a 24-hour strike today and is expected to run a second 24-hour strike on Thursday, March 29.

It said that the two days of strike action on Northern Rail was due to the scrapping of  “safety-critical” guard and the extension of Driver Only Operation, which is says is in the name of increased profits.

The union has demanded tripartite talks with Northern and the DfT aimed at reaching a solution but says it has received no positive response to that call.

Northern said it would run almost 1,400 services across both strike days, with the majority of available trains between 7am and 7pm.

The firm said: “As the overall number of trains running will be reduced, we expect trains and any replacement buses we operate to be extremely busy. Please allow extra time for journeys, plan carefully and consider whether travel is necessary.”