Rail strikes: Wales hit by biggest rail strike in 30 years

Rail passengers in Wales are dealing with the biggest strike in 30 years.

Fewer than 10% of normal services were running, Network Rail confirmed, on the first of three days of industrial action across the UK.

Last-minute talks between unions and rail bosses failed to broker a deal in a row over pay and proposed job losses.

Commuters have been advised to avoid travelling by train as the few services that are running are likely to be full.

In the Senedd on Tuesday First Minister Mark Drakeford accused UK government ministers of being absent in the talks.

Some of his ministers showed their support to RMT striking workers on Tuesday, after the first minister said he would not follow Sir Keir Starmer in asking colleagues to avoid pickets.

Downing Street said the prime minister believes pay rises in line with inflation are "not feasible across the board" now.

The RMT union says workers are facing mass job cuts and many have not had a pay rise for years.

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'Limit potential disruption'

Major Welsh company Admiral, with 7,000 staff in Cardiff, Newport and Swansea, encouraged employees to work from home.

Rhian Langham, of the insurance group, said: "We've encouraged those who feel that they'll be unable to get to the office as planned to work from home to help limit the potential disruption to them and our customers."

Labour Senedd members including ministers Dawn Bowden, Julie Morgan and Mick Antoniw were among politicians supporting striking workers on Tuesday

Bangor station in Gwynedd was deserted on Tuesday morning

Picket lines have been set up at a number of stations, including at Swansea

An RMT picket line at Cardiff Central station, including Shavanah Taj, general secretary of the Wales TUC

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price speaking to striking workers in Cardiff

What do travellers think?

Teresa Davies from Ewloe in Flintshire, who has dementia, regularly uses the trains and is dog sitting for a friend in Powys at the moment. She was planning to return home this week.

"I need to go home tomorrow, it's making me quite anxious," she said. "It's a two and a half hour drive each way."

"I do travel a lot. I'm quite independent and I'm fine travelling but when things go wrong, when things don't go to plan it can make my dementia worse. I can get very anxious, it's not good," she said.

Very few trains were running on Tuesday morning

What's the travel picture?

There are no trains west of Cardiff nor north of Merthyr Tydfil on strike days and a special timetable for 20 to 26 June has been published.

There are limited services on the valley lines between Radyr and Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil, which is owned and operated by Transport for Wales, with a rail replacement bus link between Radyr and Cardiff Central.

Motorists had been warned to expected a surge in vehicles on the roads, and there were reports of slow traffic across Wales during the morning rush hour.

Roads affected included the M4 eastbound near Magor, the A468 at Nantgarw and the A483 Wrexham bypass northbound.

Morgan Stevens of Newport Bus said the company saw 10% more passengers compared to last Tuesday.

He added that they were using double deckers for the busier regional routes such as Newport to Cardiff to cope with any increase in demand.

Rail strike advice

Can I get a refund? Yes, if you cannot get your train due to strike action. Season-ticket holders can apply for a refund for the days affected. Find more info here.

Do I have to go to work or school? This is up to your individual employer or school, check with them.

How can I plan my train journey? Use the National Rail journey planner.

Read more here.

What is the strike about?

Transport for Wales is not involved in the dispute, that includes guards, catering staff, signallers and track maintenance workers, but cannot run all its services as Network Rail maintains most track in Wales.

The RMT union wants a pay rise of 7% to deal with the rising cost of living, but it says employers are offering a maximum of 3% on condition they also accept job cuts and changes to working practices.

The RMT has threatened further action "for as long as it takes to get a settlement", potentially for six months or more.

Steve Skelly of the RMT in Wales said it had had none of the assurances it wanted from either the UK government nor train companies.

Mr Skelly said: "The reality is that we've had no other option but to ballot our members for industrial action. For some of our members this has been the third year of a pay freeze."

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has dismissed a call from the RMT for ministerial intervention and said negotiations should be between unions and employers. The Labour Party has also called on the government to step in.

Welsh Conservatives' transport spokeswoman Natasha Asghar said: "Whilst I support workers' right to strike, this rail walkout is set to cause huge disruption not just across Wales but the rest of the UK."

She urged unions to "abandon the working practices of the 1950s, get round the table and use the changes in practices to give the staff a pay rise".

But Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said the UK government had "chosen to promote conflict".

The Welsh government could face calls for inflation-proof pay rises from unions representing health and other public services workers.

Mr Gething claimed the Welsh government's hands were tied by funding from Westminster.

There would be "real difficulty for all of us" unless the Treasury provided the funding to increase wages in line with inflation, Mr Gething said.

How many of us travel to work by train?

In 2020, it was estimated that only 3% of commuting in Wales was by rail. This compared to 10% on average across Britain and as high as 45% in London.

In Wales, more than 80% of commuters still travel to work by car, which is higher than all English regions and Scotland, according to Department of Transport figures.

But more of us are travelling for leisure - and that is at the heart of the dispute.

Stuart Cole, professor of transport economics at the University of South Wales, said the three-day walkout was due in particular to a dispute over a seven-day working week.

In the past, staff were given the option of not working on Sundays.

But Prof Cole said the economics of the railways industry had changed, with the weekend now part of the working week.

"Railway demand for leisure travel is up by 50% compared with a reduction in commuting by 40%. That change in the market place shows the importance of that weekend working," Prof Cole told Radio Wales.

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