Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said he does not meet with unions, as he described calls for him to join them round the negotiating table as a "stunt".

He told BBC Breakfast: "I don't typically meet with them because it's a red herring. If I thought there was a one in a million chance it would make a slightest bit of difference of course I would do so at the drop of the hat.

"The reality is they're using it as a camouflage for the fact they've walked out of the talks that they should be in with their employers.

"I don't meet with them because that's the job of the employers and the employers do meet with them and this is a stunt by the trade unions.

"What they need to do is come back into the negotiation today with Network Rail, with the train operating companies, and carry on negotiations and get this thing fixed. That's what needs to happen and the rest of it, I'm afraid, is a distraction, which you're falling for."

Vanessa Clarke
BBC News education reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The rail strike comes just before the end of exam season, with many pupils taking GCSEs, A-levels and other school and college tests this week.

Not many students use the train to get to school, the government says – but for those that do it’s advising them to try to find another way.

Schools and colleges already have a back-up plan on how to manage disruption.

The Joint Council for Qualifications, external says if you arrive within an hour of the start of your exam, you are allowed to enter and sit the exam - but it’s up to the school or college to make this decision. The centre can also decide to push back or bring forward the start time of an exam slightly, if needed.

If an invigilator can't get to the exam, the usual rules have been bent slightly this year so that those who teach the subject being examined are allowed to step in - but only if there is no-one else available.

Barry Caffrey
BBC Radio London

At King's Cross a number of passengers are waiting for the handful of trains that are due to depart for Leeds, Peterborough, Stevenage, Cambridge and Edinburgh.

I've counted eight trains ready to depart between 08:00 BST and 09:00 - whether they go or not is a different situation.

Some trains have already been cancelled, but commuters are in good spirits and have planned accordingly.

Most people are well-prepared. They know there is a strike and everybody has been leaving extra time for their journeys.

We want to hear your experiences of what your journeys have been like, and what alternative travel arrangements you have made. You can get in touch in the following ways:

• Email: haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
• Whatsapp: +44 7756 165803
• Tweet: @BBC_HaveYourSay, external
• Please read our terms & conditions and privacy policy

In some cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name and location as you provide it unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published.

Image source, Getty Images

This week's rail strikes will cost Britain's restaurants, pubs and other hospitality businesses more than £500m, the boss of an industry has predicted.

UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls told BBC Radio 4's Today programme firms were feeling "the impact of the rail strike both in terms of their workers not being able to get into work - but more importantly their customers not being able to travel".

She says: "Many of them are shutting early, or are not opening for all the strike days and that means our hospitality workers will not be able to work."

Nicholls says "economic shocks" would hit some businesses hard, adding the sector was "only getting back on our feet post-pandemic".

Image source, Reuters

As reported earlier there is a limited service across the London Underground network with nine lines completely suspended.

Some have now started a skeleton service.

This includes:

• Central line: Part suspended between White City and Liverpool Street
• Elizabeth line: Minor delays between Paddington to Reading; Liverpool Street to Shenfield and Paddington to Heathrow Terminal 4
• Northern line: Service operating between East Finchley and High Barnet / Mill Hill East and between Golders Green and Edgware approximately every 12 minutes
• London Overground: Part suspended between Romford and Upminster also between Highbury & Islington and Dalston Junction

Some Labour MPs are joining picket lines in solidarity with RMT union members - despite the party's leadership advising its frontbenchers not to do so.

Ian Lavery, MP for Wansbeck and former chair of the Labour Party, joined a picket in Morpeth, tweeting: "Solidarity with the RMT union today and all days."

Beth Winter, Labour MP for Cynon Valley, tweeted "the workers united will never be defeated".

Shadow ministers were sent a note by the party leadership that said "frontbenchers should not be on picket lines".

One MP backing the party line is Pat McFadden, shadow Treasury minister, who told LBC he won't be joining a picket.

He believes this show of support won't help settle the dispute, instead "it will be resolved by a deal that gets the railways running again [and] that's where the political focus should be".

The rail strike, not surprisingly, features heavily on most of Tuesday's front pages.

"Britain runs into the buffers" is the headline in the Times, which says the industrial action will "paralyse" the rail network, external.

The Metro says millions of people are facing "hellish" journeys, external to get to work at firms which are still battling back after the Covid pandemic.

The Daily Mail accuses "union barons" of forcing towns and cities into a "lockdown", external that business leaders have warned will cost the hospitality sector £1bn this week.

But the Guardian says Downing Street has "inflamed" the dispute by bringing forward plans to enable employers to replace striking workers with agency staff, external.

In the view of the Financial Times, a broader confrontation between the government and public sector workers, external is looming.

Read more here.

Let's take in the scene at Liverpool Lime Street station where the shutters were down until shortly after 07:00 BST.

RMT picket lines had started to form outside and union flags were flying high as the biggest rail strike for 30 years begins.

The first train was set to depart at 07:30 BST but the station remained deserted.

An unusual sight at a usually busy railway station in the heart of the city.

Image source, PA Media

The majority of the London Underground network is closed because staff who are members of the RMT union are on strike.

The action also affects the brand new Elizabeth line which opened last month.

Other lines which are suspended include the Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan, Piccadilly, Victoria and Waterloo & City.

However, according to Transport for London (TfL) some lines are running a limited service.

These include:

• DLR: No service between Shadwell and Bank
• Northern Line: Service operating between East Finchley and High Barnet / Mill Hill East and between Golders Green and Edgware approximately every 12 minutes
• London Trams: A good service so far across south London

Network Rail, the company that owns and runs Britain's rail infrastructure, has has done everything to avoid today's walkouts, its chief executive has insisted.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Andrew Haines said he was "profoundly sorry" for the disruption faced by passengers.

But he said there had been about 18 months of negotiations between Network Rail and the RMT union over proposed changes, pay and redundancies.

Haines said there would be no more than 2,000 job losses - but believes all can be voluntary.

He denied the government had restricted any pay increase to 3%, saying a rise could be above that level if the RMT agreed to "sensible" reforms.

Network Rail's chief said some of the practices in the rail industry were "archaic", adding: "We have got to reform... we have just not been able to get the RMT over the line".

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

Motorists can expect congestion on some of the UK's busiest roads today due to the rail strike.

The AA says the industrial action will have a "significant impact" on key routes, particularly those approaching city centres.

Congestion is already building around Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham this morning as key workers give themselves extra time for their commutes, the AA's president Edmund King told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

His advice to people driving to work this week is: Check your vehicle before leaving home, take water, don't leave pets in the car and allow extra time for journeys.

Nina Warhurst
BBC Breakfast

Have you ever seen London Euston station looking so empty? We have got all the room in the world.

Services are not starting until 07:30 BST - around 10 trains will depart about then which is obviously a lot less than usual.

Passengers I have spoken to know the strikes are happening, they understand what is going on, and there is a sense from passengers of preparedness.

However, there is a mixed bag of opinions. There is public sympathy due to inflation rises.

But other people I spoke to yesterday told me they are able to work from home. Might this take the sting out of the impact of the strike?

Are the government involved in the rail negotiations or not?published at 07:14 British Summer Time 21 June 2022

07:14 BST 21 June 2022

Simon Jack
BBC Business Editor

The short answer to this is yes.

Although the transport secretary says he does not want to get involved in a dispute between the RMT on one side and Network Rail and the train operating companies on the other, the interaction between the two employers means the government has a pivotal role.

Government officials say that Network Rail is, in theory, able to offer a higher pay settlement than the 3% it is currently offering by shuffling its large and complex overall budget.

However, the government accepts that any pay offer to Network Rail employees would set the bar for a settlement for the train operating companies.

Given that the government is now also the financial backstop to the Covid-ravaged rail companies, that could frustrate their stated ambition of putting the rail industry on a sustainable financial footing. Revenues for the train companies are still languishing just above half their pre-pandemic levels.

The government may not be in the room but they are at the table.

The RMT union leading the strike says rail companies want to cut thousands of jobs “at the behest of the government” as part of a £2bn reduction in spending.

It says workers have been seeing real-terms pay cuts and now face a cost-of-living crisis.

Network Rail says it wants to modernise working practices and increase efficiency, savings from which would allow a better pay deal for railway workers. It says Covid has changed travel patterns forever.

The government says it is keeping out of talks between rail bosses and unions but that industrial action will “endanger” jobs rather than save them.

Nick Garnett
Reporting from Manchester Piccadilly station

There are, for now at least, more pigeons than people at Manchester Piccadilly.

The station shutters are down, the pickets are arriving and the destination boards are dark.

It's so different to how it was 24 hours ago when the station was its usual bustling self.

The changes don't stop there. Yesterday's empty car park is full with early arrivals and overnight stays.

Hotels are busy, as will be the trams and buses that normally share the commuting load with the trains into the city.

Northern Rail has told customers to stay off the trains this week although it's hoped an hourly service between major destinations will run to stations in the north, south, east and west of Manchester later in the day

Image source, Reuters

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to condemn the rail strike and call for a "sensible compromise" on pay.

He is likely to say that "too high demands" on wages will make it "incredibly difficult" to halt rising inflation.

After thousands of workers walked out from midnight, Johnson will accuse unions of "driving away commuters who ultimately support the jobs of rail workers".

The PM will also say at a cabinet meeting this morning that "hard-working public sector workers" should be rewarded, but the pay increase must be "proportionate and balanced".

Read the full story here.

Image source, PA Media

It’s not just passengers on the national train network facing disruption today.

In a separate action, RMT union workers on the London Underground have also walked out in a dispute over pensions and job losses.

Transport for London said most of its services will be severely disrupted or not running.

It’s expected the disruption caused by Tuesday’s strike will mean services aren’t back to normal until mid-morning on Wednesday.

You can read more from TFL on what’s being hit and where, including the new Elizabeth Line, here, external.

Image source, Reuters

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is encouraging people in the capital and those travelling to the city to use alternative means of transport - mostly buses (which will be busier than usual) and the various bike hire schemes.

But the AA says drivers in Scotland and Wales should expect to face long queues as most railway lines will be closed.

The M74, M8 and A9 in Scotland and the M4, A55, A5, and A483 in Wales could see severe traffic, it says.

The RAC says major city routes and those serving the home counties are likely to see some of the biggest increases in traffic volumes.

The strikes will affect a number of events, including school exams and the first Glastonbury Festival for three years.

We've got more details for you here.

Today sees the biggest rail strike for 30 years, with an almost total shutdown of the network in England, Wales and Scotland, as members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT) stage the first of this week's three 24-hour walkouts.

When are the strikes?

Workers are on strike for three days this week: Today, Thursday 23 and Saturday 25 June.

Members of the RMT working on London Underground are also on strike today. While Tube drivers are not taking part, the RMT action means stations cannot open.

How many workers are taking part?

There are about 40,000 RMT members who work on the railways in jobs such as maintaining tracks and signals, station staff and signallers.

Because they are taking action, trains can't run - even though most drivers are members of a different union, Aslef, who are not on strike.

There are also 10,000 RMT members in the London Underground who will strike on Tuesday.

How widespread is the disruption?

It's expected that services will be affected right across Great Britain (Northern Ireland Railways is not involved).

While operators hope to work to a special timetable, passengers are being advised not to travel.

Train services will also end earlier today - much like they do on Christmas Eve - so that rolling stock and crews are not in the wrong places for when services do resume.

There's a full list of the affected lines here, along with some handy links for travel advice and help.