Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Oct 05, 2025

Londoners face travel misery with rail strike and cold weather

Londoners face travel misery with rail strike and cold weather

First 48 hour rail strike this week to cause chaos on Tuesday while Met says ice will also lead to more ‘difficult’ travel conditions

London will face more travel chaos on Tuesday as the start of a 48-hour rail strike and cold weather threaten to grind the capital to a halt.

RMT union members at 14 train operating companies rejected a pay offer from Network Rail and confirmed on Monday they will be walking off the job on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The impact of the industrial action that is set to severely impact train services in the capital comes on top of chaos set to be caused again by the freezing weather.

The Met Office has issued a ice warning for the capital until 11am on Tuesday morning.

It warned: “Lying snow and icy patches will lead to difficult travel conditions during Monday and into Tuesday” and told people to expect “icy patches on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths” and “some injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces”.
On strike days

roughly just 20 per cent of services will run between 7.30am and 6.30pm, National Rail warned, with commuters urged to check final train times and to only travel if “absolutely necessary”.

The Elizabeth Line will run a reduced service between London Paddington and Reading. Meanwhile Heathrow Express services between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport will finish at 6.30pm.

A reduced service is planned to run along the East Coast Main Line – which connects London King’s Cross, Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh – between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

It comes after hundreds of flights, trains and Tubes were cancelled amid Monday morning commuter mayhem.

Sunday night’s snowfall in the capital left drivers stranded on the M25 for hours and more than 30 schools closed, forcing many parents to take time off work.

Nationwide some 7,500 drivers broke down and called the “exceptionally busy” RAC due to the freezing temperatures.

At Solihull in the West Midlands, three children rescued from a lake after falling through ice died in hospital, while a fourth remains in a critical condition.

Meanwhile hundreds of flights were axed, delayed or diverted with some stranded passengers forced to sleep on the floor at Gatwick.


Network Rail offer rejected


On Monday 63.6 per cent of an 83 per cent turnout of RMT union members voted to reject Network Rail’s latest offer, which included a 5 per cent and 4 per cent pay rise over a two-year period.

RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch said: "This is a huge rejection of Network Rail’s substandard offer and shows that our members are determined to take further strike action in pursuit of a negotiated settlement.

"The government is refusing to lift a finger to prevent these strikes and it is clear they want to make effective strike action illegal in Britain.”

Meanwhile National Rail said the strikes were “deeply frustrating” and “highly disruptive”, causing “misery to passengers right across the country” during the festive season.

David Davidson, Network Rail’s interim Western route director, said: “I would like to apologise to passengers and urge them to seek alternative ways to travel than by train and for those passengers who must travel by train to expect severe disruption, plan ahead and check the time of your last train home.”

Further rail strikes are planned between 6pm Christmas Eve and 6am December 27, as well as January 3,4,6 and 7.

The 14 rail companies involved are: Chiltern Railways, Cross Country Trains, Greater Anglia, LNER, East Midlands Railway, c2c,Great Western Railway, Northern Trains, South Eastern South Western Railway, Transpennine Express, Avanti West Coast, West Midlands Trains and GTR (including Gatwick Express).

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
×