Ben Boulos
BBC Breakfast Business Presenter

Paddington Station is normally bustling with passengers during the weekday morning peak.

Not today.

It’s quieter than your local library - quieter, even, than many quiet carriages on trains that would usually run.

On a typical weekday, 150,000 passengers would pass through this station. On Tuesday - the first RMT strike day this week - just 26,000 people travelled.

An empty concourse at 6am suggests it will be a similar story today.

The government's plans to change the law to enable companies to use agency workers for staffing cover during industrial action is an "attack on the right to strike", a senior union official has said.

Kate Bell, head of economics and employment rights at the TUC union, describes the proposal as a "cynical attempt" by ministers to "pick a fight with unions to distract from their failings".

She says the government has failed to get pay rising across the economy and to "get round the table and help resolve this dispute".

Bell tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the plan also raises "serious" questions about safety, with the possibility of insufficiently trained workers being asked to do jobs like dispatching trains, working in food factories or caring for children.

"Agencies themselves have been very clear that they don't want anything to do with this, as they know it'll poison industrial relations and lead to those real safety concerns," she adds.

Osob Elmi
BBC News

Rahul Shukla, 46, from India is currently stranded in London after travelling to the UK for university open days with his 18-year-old daughter Shreya.

“We were supposed to travel by train from London to Dundee, Newcastle, Birmingham, York and Cardiff”, he says.

Instead, Rahul says they have had three train cancellations on 21, 23 and 25 June.

He says they missed two university open days but have managed to make alternative travel plans for a third university.

“Today we were supposed to go to Dundee.

"Instead, traffic jams all over London meant we are stranded here,” he says.

Rahul says they have been stuck in a room, looking out of the window at stranded and slow-moving traffic.

Deal to avert third day of strikes looking unlikelypublished at 05:59 British Summer Time 23 June 2022

05:59 BST 23 June 2022

Katy Austin
Transport Correspondent

Both sides in this dispute insist that in recent days they had thought progress was being made. But Wednesday's talks again ended without an agreement.

As things stand, a deal to avert the third strike going ahead on Saturday isn't looking particularly likely.

The RMT union says that in talks it asked Network Rail to withdraw Monday's letter about pressing ahead with a formal consultation over changes to working practices in maintenance teams - which would entail redundancies.

A source at Network Rail, which maintains and operates the tracks, described this as a "red herring".

They insisted the letter could be ripped up if the union would properly negotiate on the reforms.

Image source, PA Media

Another strike is planned for Saturday 25 June - unless an agreement is reached beforehand.

However, at this late stage, even if action is called off, it will probably be too late to prevent much of the disruption.

Disruption is also expected across England, Scotland and Wales on other days because of the time it takes to restore a normal service.

Services in Northern Ireland are not affected.

The RMT has not yet announced further strike dates beyond Saturday, but says industrial action will run "as long as it needs to" and is threatening to continue striking across the summer.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the turnout at picket lines on Tuesday was "fantastic" and exceeded the union's expectations.

"Our members will continue the campaign and have shown outstanding unity in the pursuit of a settlement to this dispute," he said.

Separately, train drivers who are members of the Aslef union are due to strike over pay at Greater Anglia on 23 June and 2 July and on Croydon Tramlink on 28 and 29 June and 13 and 14 July.

Image source, PA Media

The strike has been called by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, whose members include everyone from guards and signallers to catering staff and cleaners.

The union says workers - many of whom continued to work throughout the pandemic - have experienced real-terms pay cuts and are now facing a cost-of-living crisis.

It has accused the government of preventing rail companies from freely negotiating on pay.

The union also takes issue with Network Rail's plans to cut 2,500 maintenance jobs, as it tries to save £2bn over the next two years.

Network Rail says it would offer a pay rise above 3%, but only if the union agrees to modernising working practices.

Its chief negotiator, Tim Shoveller, says about 1,800 jobs were expected to be cut, but the "vast majority" would be through "voluntary severance and natural wastage”.

It insists it would not consider any changes that would make the railways less safe and that modernisation is needed.

Image source, Reuters

The government says it is up to the railway companies to negotiate.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that commuters must be ready to "stay the course", insisting reforms of the rail sector are in the interests of the travelling public.

Downing Street says £16bn of taxpayers' money was used to support the railways during the Covid pandemic, but with passenger numbers still down by a fifth, and many firms adopting hybrid working, modernisation is needed to avoid soaring ticket prices and operators going bust.

Image source, PA Media

More than 40,000 Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members from Network Rail and 13 train operators are walking out for the second of three planned strikes on Thursday, but what is behind the dispute?

The latest talks between the unions and rail employers were held on Wednesday in a bid to resolve the dispute over jobs, pay and conditions - but they broke down.

The RMT is calling for a pay rise of 7%, while employers have offered a maximum of 3%.

The union believes any rise should more closely reflect the soaring rate of inflation - currently at 9.1% and expected to rise to 11% in the autumn.

But the government has said pay rises which keep pace with inflation will only exacerbate inflationary pressure, keeping it higher for longer - and causing more misery, particularly for the poorest in society.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the second day of rail strikes across Britain - the largest of their kind in decades.

Only 20% of services are expected to run today, with half of the network closed and some areas having no access to trains at all.

Commuters, students and tourists alike face lengthy journeys as they find alternative means to reach their destinations - whether by car, on the bus, by bike or on foot.

And there's also a yellow Met Office weather warning for thunderstorms across much of southern England to contend with, which could further hinder some travel plans.

We'll keep you updated with all the latest travel news, as well any developments in negotiations between the unions and train operators that could avert a third day of strikes on Saturday.