In a significant escalation of ongoing industrial action, Aslef members initiated a third day of strikes within a four-day period, causing substantial disruptions across some of the UK’s busiest rail routes on Monday, April 8. The strike, stemming from a protracted pay dispute, has seen train services into London, as well as those in East Anglia and the South East, particularly affected.
Train companies impacted by Monday’s strike include c2c, Gatwick Express, Greater Anglia, Southeastern, Southern, South Western Railway, Great Northern, and Thameslink. Passengers have been warned to expect severe service limitations, with many operators running a significantly reduced schedule or none at all.
South Western Railway has announced that a severely limited service will operate on select lines only between 7 am and 7 pm, with the remainder of the network shut down. Similarly, Southern disclosed that no trains would run on most of its network, except for a limited shuttle service connecting London Victoria and Gatwick Airport non-stop.
Thameslink will suspend services entirely, aside from a restricted shuttle running between Luton, Luton Airport Parkway, and London St Pancras, and another between London Kings Cross and Cambridge. Great Northern and Gatwick Express will also see a cessation of services, although Gatwick Airport remains accessible via the limited Southern shuttle.
Most routes and stations under Southeastern will be closed, with the company advising against travel due to the expected “severe disruption.” Only 29 out of 165 Southeastern stations will remain open, with no rail replacement services available for closed stations.
No c2c trains will be operational on Monday. Rob Mullen, c2c’s managing director, expressed disappointment over the failure to reach an agreement with Aslef and highlighted the significant impact of the strike on both customers and staff.
Greater Anglia plans to start its first trains later and end the last trains earlier than usual, excluding Stansted Express services. The operator will maintain an hourly service on selected routes to and from London Liverpool Street, with a bi-hourly service between Cambridge and London. All other Greater Anglia routes will be non-operational.
The strike action also includes an overtime ban by Aslef members at 16 train companies on Monday and Tuesday, April 8 and 9, further disrupting services. This comes as Aslef continues its nearly two-year dispute over pay, with the union stating the industry has lost more than £2 billion due to the conflict—far exceeding the cost of resolving the issue.
No talks are currently planned to address the deadlock, despite the Department for Transport highlighting a law introduced last year aimed at maintaining minimum service levels during strikes. However, no train companies have chosen to utilize this provision. The government and Aslef remain at odds, with train drivers’ average salaries at the center of the dispute, poised to increase from £60,000 to £65,000 under the proposed offer.
