Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Sep 01, 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
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×