Rail travellers face week of strikes on Tube and train

Rail travellers across England are facing a week of disruption with strike action due to take place on the Tube, as well as at four train companies.

RMT union members at Southern, Merseyrail, Arriva Rail North and Greater Anglia plan to stage a walkout on Tuesday 3 and Thursday 5 October.

Underground drivers belonging to the union Aslef are due to strike on Thursday.

The London Overground and DLR will be unaffected.

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The Tube strike is about a pay deal agreed between drivers and transport bosses in 2015. Aslef, which represents the majority of Tube drivers, says bosses have failed on a commitment to give its members the opportunity to work a four-day week and reduce the number of weekend shifts.

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But London Underground says a recent trial of new shift patterns has only just finished and the results are yet to be analysed.

Transport for London says it is putting more buses on key routes during the strike but urged people to walk if possible as services "will be exceptionally busy".

The train company strikes are part of a dispute over driver-only-operated trains, which it says would be unsafe and lead to widespread job losses.

Greater Anglia is planning to run a full service on the strike days, and Southern said it would attempt to run a normal service on most of its routes.

Arriva Rail North plans to run about 1,200 services across the north, 46% of its normal timetable, on both days between 07:00 BST and 19:00 BST.

Most Merseyrail services will run between 07:00 and 19:00, with a break during the middle of the day, and some stations will be closed.