By Ben Kerrigan-
A rail strike by 40,000 RMT union members has caused four in five trains to be cancelled today as many people return to work after the Christmas break
The 48-hour strike is the first of two planned this week by the RMT in England, Scotland and Wales – members of drivers’ union Aslef will walk out on Thursday
The latest strike is part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions at Network Rail, and 14 train operating companies
According to network rail , a deal to end the strikes is “in touching distance” despite no improvement in its pay offer.
RMT union boss Mick Lynch has accused the UK government of “blocking” a deal saying “ministerial interference” is preventing a settlement
The government says unions have rejected new offers on pay and ministers want to facilitate a deal.
Passengers have been told to travel only if necessary, as an estimated 20% of trains expected to run and scheduled hours of operation cut back to between 7.30am and 6.30pm.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at Network Rail and 14 train operators are striking for two 48-hour periods, starting on Tuesday and again from Friday.
With signalling staff among the 40,000 RMT members on strike, much of the railway in Wales, Scotland and less populous regions of England will not run at all, while service frequencies will typically be reduced to one train an hour on major routes.
Meanwhile, train drivers in the Aslef union will strike for 24 hours on the intervening day. The Aslef action on Thursday will spell even more disruption, with no trains at all across some of the 15 operators where drivers are on strike, including Southeastern, Thameslink, Avanti and TransPennine Express.
Network Rail has advised people to travel only if absolutely necessary throughout the week and to check online for updates on when services will run.
The British public has already endured weeks of industrial action that severely disrupted the railway over the festive period, including an overtime ban that ended on Monday night that hit certain train operators hard.
Unions claimed on Monday that rail companies were “in despair” over the government’s handling of the pay dispute, with the Treasury now effectively controlling what settlement can be made.
Mick Lynch, the RMT general secretary, said there had been “radio silence” from the government since a meeting in mid-December.
He added: “They keep saying that they’re facilitating a deal. And I think it’s absolutely the opposite to that.
“The executives who run the industry day on day are in despair at what the government is making them say in these talks.”
The Department for Transport rejected Lynch’s claims, saying the rail minister had remained in regular contact with all parties and the government had taken significant steps to enable a deal.
A spokesperson said: “Unions should step back from this strike action so we can start 2023 by ending this damaging dispute.”
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, apologised to passengers for what it called “unnecessary and damaging disruption”, warning that the dispute would only be resolved by agreeing reforms to working arrangements.
A landslide on the west coast main line has added to disruption for passengers travelling to and from Scotland. Services will not operate north of Carlisle to Glasgow until at least Thursday while engineers tackle the damage.