Intercity rail passengers face summer disruption amid slashed services and strike votes
Summary
Rail passengers in Great Britain face possible delays and cancellations this summer. East Midlands Railway is cutting many trains due to problems with new Hitachi trains, while train drivers on two other main routes are voting on strikes over pay disputes.Key Facts
- East Midlands Railway is canceling about 20 fast trains daily between London, Sheffield, and Nottingham due to issues with new class 810 trains called Auroras.
- The new Auroras have performance and reliability problems after a three-year delay in arrival.
- East Midlands Railway blames Hitachi for poor maintenance of older trains, affecting overall service reliability.
- Investigations continue into a fatal crash last month involving one of the new Auroras due to a failure in the automatic warning system.
- Train drivers’ union Aslef is voting on strikes at LNER (London to Scotland) and Avanti West Coast over failed pay deals.
- The Department for Transport did not approve a pay deal that LNER workers had agreed on.
- Strike votes could lead to widespread rail disruptions on all three main north-south routes by late August.
- The strike votes follow unresolved pay talks and canceled rest day work agreements, causing some train cancellations.
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