London rail misery drags on despite pause in strikes

London’s commuters are battling further delays and cancellations that in some cases are worse than when rail workers were officially on strike.

Rail staff from more than one union went on strike for four days last week as part of a long-running dispute over pay and proposed reforms to the network.

Despite no further walkouts being planned between Monday and Friday this week, workers are following a ban on overtime which train companies have blamed for heavily reduced services.

Only one train arrived at Marylebone station before 10 a.m. on Monday morning compared to 36 a week earlier. Last Wednesday, in the midst of widespread rail strikes across the country, four trains pulled into Marylebone, near Regent’s Park, before 10 a.m.

Just 38 trains arrived at Waterloo, normally the UK’s busiest terminal, before 10 a.m., compared to 120 a week earlier. The proportion of trains arriving on time was even lower than last Wednesday during the strike.

Banker Belt

Some commuter stations will be closed in the run up to Christmas through to the new year — such as Little Kimble and Monks Risborough in the Chiltern hills, a salubrious area to the west of London popular with City workers. 

Certain stations in north west London will also be shut until Jan. 9, according to Chiltern Railway Company Ltd. It said it was running longer trains to offset the less frequent service, and some platforms were therefore too short to be kept open.

“We would like to sincerely apologize to our customers that our train service has been, and will continue to be, severely impacted throughout the four-week period of industrial action by the RMT union,” a spokesperson for Chiltern Railway said.

At least a dozen stations served by First MTR South Western Trains Ltd. are closed this week.

“While not a strike, the overtime ban limits the number of trains we can get into service each day and we have had to make some difficult decisions,” said Steve Tyler, planning director at South Western.

Britons have been advised to only travel on Christmas Eve “if absolutely necessary” due to the next set of official strikes by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, starting Saturday.

“RMT suggestions that their planned strike action over the festive period is ‘not targeting Christmas’ would be laughable were the consequences not so painful,” said Andrew Haines, Network Rail’s chief executive.

RMT Secretary General Mick Lynch said last week that the industrial action over Christmas was targeting engineering work, not passengers. “There’ll be a whole week before Christmas Eve” without a strike, he said at a picket line.