Commuters on the Southern rail network and Gatwick Express face another day of disruption, as talks between the train operator and drivers’ union Aslef continue.
The strike action that shut down the entire network for two days is in a brief hiatus, having ended on Wednesday and resuming on Friday. But the franchise’s operator, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), warned that there would be delays and cancellations to services.
The strikes, which forced the cancellation of all of Southern’s 2,242 daily services, was the worst strike-led disruption since privatisation and affected an estimated 300,000 people.
Talks at mediation service Acas between GTR and Aslef on Wednesday were reportedly positive, but no concessions were made by either side. They are expected to resume at 10.30am on Thursday.
Drivers are striking over GTR’s plan to introduce driver-only operation to the network – an issue that has also caused strikes by conductors belonging to the RMT transport union. The RMT’s leader, Mick Cash, claimed on Wednesday he had been barred from the talks, and conductors are expected to proceed with a strike on Monday and Tuesday.
GTR argues that allowing services to run in some circumstances without a second crew member on board would allow extra flexibility and reduce disruptions to services. But the unions say that plans to downgrade the role of conductor to onboard supervisor threatens to deskill jobs and poses a safety risk. The confrontation has caused months of delays and disruptions to services.
Southern’s passenger services director, Angie Doll, said on Wednesday: “We will be working hard to run as many services as possible tomorrow, but regrettably I have to warn passengers that services will be severely impacted, with reductions and cancellations across all routes.
“With today’s strike ending at midnight, despite our best efforts, some trains and crew will still not be in position for tomorrow’s service; and the overtime ban will continue to have a serious impact.”
Live travel updates warned of many services running with long delays and fewer carriages than usual.
More than 100 commuters are expected to march to the Department for Transport on Thursday evening in a demonstration organised by the Association of British Commuters, a passenger campaign group set up in response to the continuing disruption. They will call on the government to intervene in the crisis, and demand the resignation of the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, if the situation is not resolved.
