Rail strikes hit commuters across northern England

Rail strikes hit hundreds of thousands of commuters across northern England as guards walked out in a dispute over changes to their job.

The RMT union staged a third and final consecutive day of action at Northern trains and a one-day strike at Merseyrail. They are fighting plans to allow drivers to close doors — the same issue that has blighted Southern rail for months. The union says the change would jeopardise passenger safety.

Smaller stations were closed on Merseyrail, which runs between Southport and Chester. There were no services from 11am-2pm, and at other times two trains an hour rather than four.

On Northern, which runs short-distance services across the entire region, less than half of services ran, with none after 7pm. Trains were busy in the morning rush hour and replacement buses were used to get people to work.

Many swapped the train for their cars. Chris Fletcher, of the Greater Manchester chamber of commerce, said several members of staff had driven to work.

He said most companies would cope by allowing people to stay at home or work flexible hours. But he said that repeated strikes would be a worry. Merseyrail staff will strike for a third time on July 23, the last day of the Open Golf at Birkdale. Northern has been hit on four separate occasions.

“We do not want to end up in a situation like Southern. There is a lot of investment going into new trains and here we are back in the days of industrial action. It is frustrating.”

Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, blamed the rail operators.

“The action in the two separate disputes on Northern and Merseyrail is being solidly supported [by guards] across all routes in the battle for safe railways for all,” he said.

He said Northern, owned by Arriva, had failed to give assurances about the future role of guards when new rolling stock arrives in 2019.

Northern has said jobs and pay will be protected and it wants to negotiate before announcing its plans. Arriva, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, is investing £1bn in total, including £400m on 98 new trains on which drivers can operate the doors.

Merseyrail, which carries about 100,000 passengers a day, is jointly owned by Serco and Abellio, the Dutch railway operator. It is getting a new fleet of 52 electric trains that will not need guards in 2020. But Merseytravel, the transport authority, has said guards will keep their jobs on the same pay and conditions. Merseytravel is a political body dominated by Labour councillors.

Jan Chaudhry-van der Velde, Merseyrail’s managing director, said: “While we, as always, will do our best to minimise disruption, our passengers should not be made to suffer at the hands of the RMT, and the Liverpool city region should not be caught in the crossfire of a national dispute directed by unions in London.”

Rail is not as vital to commuters in the north of England as the south, with only one in 30 using the train. Transpennine Express, which connects the bigger cities such as Liverpool and Newcastle, is operating normally, while other long-distance services made extra stops to help Northern passengers.