West Midlands railway stations quiet as strike action causes major disruption
Railway stations across the West Midlands have fallen extremely quiet as passengers faced fresh travel chaos amid thousands of workers going on strike.
Union members from the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at Network Rail and from 14 train operators went on strike on Wednesday, causing major disruption.
It affected services including Transport for Wales, London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway, which all run trains across the West Midlands.
The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) union members went on strike at Avanti West Coast, causing further disruption for passengers nationally.
It comes just a day before the Commonwealth Games arrive in the region with further major disruption expected on Saturday when another union strikes.
The impact was felt at Wolverhampton railway station which was extremely quiet in the middle of the day, with only a handful of people choosing to travel.
Trains had been cut back amid the strikes with one train per hour between Wolverhampton and Birmingham run by West Midlands Railway.
London Northwestern Railway had one train between Birmingham and Northampton and one from Birmingham to Crewe, with all the services running between 7.30am and 6.30pm only.
No trains ran on any other WMR route including all routes via Birmingham Snow Hill and Birmingham to Shrewsbury. Meanwhile no LNR trains ran from London Euston to Crewe and Birmingham to Liverpool.
And Avanti West Coast, which runs services across the region, said it ran approximately 25 per cent of its typical weekday timetable.
Passengers were urged only to travel by train if they must, and, if it is necessary, to allow extra time and check when their last train will depart. Trains will be disrupted this morning as well as employees return to their duties.
Meanwhile many passengers were unaware of the strikes as they turned up at stations, only to find themselves wondering about how to get to their destination.
Fabian Ward was sat on the Birmingham New Street concourse planning how to get home to Telford 34 miles away. He said: "I didn't know about the strikes to be fair, otherwise I would have driven."
John Watson, RMT regional organiser for the Midlands, criticised the Government for avoiding the subject – and took aim at fares rising but no members of staff receiving a pay rise.
He said: "The Government is hiding behind them – it’s the Department for Transport calling the shots. Ideally, we’d like to meet with them but the government is just avoiding the subject.
“The Government wants to close every single booking office within the rail industry. So that includes every single booking office within the Midlands, including places like Birmingham New Street.
“There’ll be somebody there with a tablet to help you use a computer or ticket machine, but things will be almost self service – you’re not going to be able to ask people questions, get times and train information or prices.
“They’re telling the travelling public, ‘this is what you will be doing when you buy a ticket’, not asking the public what they want from the service. They’re hiding behind ‘modernisation’ and it’s more about putting profits into the shareholders pockets and saving money for the shareholders rather than it is about service to the public.
“A lot of our members are concerned about the cost of living increase, but they’re getting exactly the same money as they did three years ago. Everyone’s going through it, we’re not saying we’re the only ones, everybody should be getting a cost of living increase. "
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps argued the strikes had been "cynically timed" to disrupt the start of the Commonwealth Games in a bid to impact the travel of thousands trying to attend events.
Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said: "Despite our best efforts to find a breakthrough, I'm afraid there will be more disruption for passengers this week as the RMT seems hell-bent on continuing their political campaigning, rather than compromising and agreeing a deal for their members."
Members of drivers' union Aslef at seven companies will strike on Saturday. Members of the RMT and TSSA will launch co-ordinated strikes on August 18 and 20, while the RMT announced a strike on London Underground on August 19.
