Lawyer Tungnath Chaturvedi took on the might of Indian Railways after being charged 20 rupees – or 21p – too much
An Indian lawyer has won a 22-year legal battle with Indian Railways for overcharging him by 20 rupees (21p or 25c).
When Tungnath Chaturvedi, 66, bought a ticket at Mathura station in Uttar Pradesh in 1999 to go to Moradabad, he was charged 90 rupees instead of 70. He complained there and then but did not receive a refund.
Continue reading...Head of Aslef says transport secretary ‘misrepresenting’ the truth after claim the union was ‘dragging its feet’ in pay talks
Mary Kelly Foy, the Labour MP for City of Durham, has expressed solidarity with Aslef union members as they strike.
LNER, which runs trains between London and Scotland, is warning customers of its “extremely limited services” today.
Continue reading...Some 40,000 workers from 14 train companies and Network Rail are striking in an ongoing dispute over pay, jobs and conditions
Here’s the latest TfL update:
Bakerloo — Part suspended. There is no service between Queen’s Park and Harrow & Wealdstone.
I’m looking at banning strikes by different unions in the same workplace within a set period. We should also place an absolute limit of six pickets at points of Critical National Infrastructure, irrespective of the number of unions involved, and outlaw intimidatory language.
Shadow minister defying Labour leadership to stand on picket line says lives are at stake
Grant Shapps has escalated the government’s confrontation with the rail unions by ruling out meeting with them, as a shadow minister said “lives could be lost” if wages did not improve.
Labour’s Sam Tarry defied his party leadership to stand on the picket line at Euston on Wednesday morning while rail strikes disrupted travel for millions.
Continue reading...More than 40,000 staff involved in widespread action after union leaders rejected ‘paltry’ 4% pay rise
The railways will again grind to a halt on Wednesday as workers strike over pay, job security and working conditions.
The latest talks to avert the action failed last week, a month since three days of industrial action in June. The strikes involve more than 40,000 workers at Network Rail, 14 train companies, and members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT).
Continue reading...From 2025, commuters can expect two extra trains every hour between Manchester and York and journey times up to 40% shorter
Train services in the north of England are to be given triple the intended investment after the government announced the first part of its £96bn integrated rail plan.
The multibillion pound plan – announced last November – pledged to deliver faster train journeys more quickly than the original plans for the HS2 eastern leg and Northern Powerhouse Rail.
Continue reading...Southwest Chief train crash left at least 40 injured in remote rural area, according to unconfirmed reports
Three people were killed and several others were injured when a passenger train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago struck a dump truck and derailed in a remote, rural area of Missouri on Monday, officials said.
Two of the people who died were on the train and one was in the truck, Missouri state highway patrol spokesman Corporal Justin Dunn said. It was not immediately clear exactly how many people were hurt, the patrol said, but hospitals reported receiving more than 40 patients from the crash and were expecting more.
Continue reading...Passengers advised to only travel if necessary as members of RMT at Network Rail and 13 train operators walk out
Crowds of holidaymakers are fretting about missing their flights as train delays have left them stuck at London’s Liverpool Street station, PA reports.
The Stansted Express normally leaves twice an hour from Britain’s third-busiest station, but strike action has reduced this down to one.
One man, who was returning to Sofia in Bulgaria after three days in London, complained that the experience was “stressful”.
Asked how much longer he expected to wait, the man - who had been stranded at the station for half an hour - said: “I don’t know, I’m just looking at the board, I hope not too long.”
Grant Shapps says government will not get involved in solving rail dispute as commuters face massive disruption on UK railways and London Underground
Guardian North of England editor, Helen Pidd, is reporting on the rail strikes from Manchester, where pedestrians have been wishing strikers luck as they pass.
On Monday, Boris Johnson responded to the biggest rail strikes in a generation with plans to break the industrial action by allowing firms to bring in agency staff, a move unions have decried as unworkable, unsafe and potentially breaking international law.
There aren’t any agency staff – we have seen that in other industries.
Prime minister signals he will not give in to RMT demands and says rail reforms must be pushed through to cut costs for commuters
In interviews this morning Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, reaffirmed the government’s intention to change the legislation to allow firms to use agency workers to fill in for staff who are on strike. (See 11.14am.) As we report in our overnight lead on the strike, Whitehall sources say No 10 and the Cabinet Office are pushing for this, rather than the business department.
Yesterday the TUC and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) put out a joint statement opposing the idea “in the strongest possible terms”. They said it was unworkable.
I don’t know how bringing in untrained, non-safety critical, inexperienced workers into a dangerous environment like the railway - with high speed trains, there are high voltage distribution systems, there are rules and regulations that have the power of statute - how that will help anyone, whether they are a passenger or a worker or manager or whatever?
I don’t see how the use, the deployment of students or people who have got no work experience that are working for an agency will help anyone to resolve this situation, so as usual [Grant Shapps is] just spouting nonsense given to him from some policy unit which doesn’t help to resolve the situations which are in front of us.
Continue reading...While picketers receive support, it’s quiet on the roads, and the train to Preston is running late as usual
Assembling their picket line outside Manchester Piccadilly station at 6am on Tuesday, the striking rail workers wondered if they would receive a hostile reaction from those inconvenienced. But instead of abuse they received toots of support from passing buses and taxis, while cyclists rang their bells.
“Passengers who use our railways day in, day out support us. They know that most of us are not on the inflated wages you see thrown about by rightwing commentators and newspapers,” said Clayton Clive, the RMT branch secretary for Manchester. About 950 of his 1,500 members had downed tools for the day, he said, a turnout of 63%.
Continue reading...Unions condemn measure as potentially against international law as 40,000 staff prepare for first day of industrial action
Boris Johnson has responded to the biggest rail strikes in a generation with plans to break the industrial action by allowing firms to bring in agency staff, a move unions have decried as unworkable, unsafe and potentially breaking international law.
As 40,000 workers prepared for Tuesday’s strike, the most wide-reaching on the railways in 30 years, Downing Street brought forward changes to enable employers to replace employees with temporary staff.
Continue reading...Unions critical of leader’s instruction to senior MPs to ‘show leadership’ by not publicly siding with workers
Labour’s frontbenchers have been warned to stay away from picket lines on the eve of the biggest rail strike since 1989.
As staff get ready to take part in the RMT strike on Tuesday, Keir Starmer’s office told shadow cabinet members that to “show leadership” frontbenchers “should not be on picket lines”.
Continue reading...Chris Nicholson was left stranded on platform at Milton Keynes station in 31C heat
A wheelchair user was forced to drag himself up stairs at a railway station platform, saying staff refused to help him owing to health and safety policy.
Chris Nicholson, an athlete and spokesperson for the Myprotein sports brand, was travelling to address an event in London on Friday when the incident took place at Milton Keynes station.
Continue reading...RMT union leaders say ‘no viable’ deals are on the table and walkout is set to go ahead, hitting tourism, sport and festivals
Network Rail bosses say they plan to hold more talks with union leaders today in a last-ditch attempt to avert the biggest strike on the railways for more than three decades.
More than 40,000 rail workers are due to walk out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Only about half of Britain’s rail network will be open on strike days with a very limited service on lines which are open.
Continue reading...Unions accuse transport secretary of threats and intimidation of workers, and government of trying to make political capital out of the strike
The transport secretary has told rail staff not to “risk striking yourself out of a job”, before industrial action that will close much of the railway next week.
In a speech in which Grant Shapps said he was “appealing directly to workers” instead of unions, he claimed the strikes were “a bid to derail reforms that are critical to the network’s future, and designed to inflict damage at the worst possible time”.
Continue reading...Passengers in Great Britain told not to attempt to travel on 21, 23 and 25 June unless necessary
Network Rail said there was “no real hope” of avoiding the biggest railway strike in 30 years next week, as it told passengers to plan ahead and only travel if necessary.
The full timetable will be published on Friday but operators including Southern, Northern, TransPennine and Transport for Wales have already told passengers not to attempt to travel on strike days.
Continue reading...TSSA union ballots could lead to complete national shutdown by time of Commonwealth Games in July
Managers and train drivers could join the strikes across the railway, potentially setting up a complete national shutdown by the time of the Commonwealth Games in July.
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) union, whose members manage control rooms, signalling and power for train operators and Network Rail, has launched its first strike ballot, while the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (Aslef) union has called the first regional walkouts by drivers.
Continue reading...Despite 14 years of work and about $5bn spent, the 2008 promise of quick transport between Los Angeles and San Francisco has not materialized
In the depths of the 2008 recession, Californians were sold on a beautiful dream: a bullet train that would whisk them between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours.
The project was to be the start of a new era of high-speed rail that would eventually stretch the full length of the west coast, from San Diego to Vancouver, across the desert to Las Vegas, and, eventually, all across the continental United States.
Continue reading...RMT calls out 4,000 members in protest at TfL plans to cut 600 posts to reduce costs
London Underground station staff will stage a 24-hour strike on Monday 6 June, the day after the platinum jubilee holiday weekend, in a dispute over job cuts.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has called 4,000 members out on strike in protest at Transport for London’s plans to cut 600 posts to reduce costs.
Continue reading...