Rail unions accuse Tory ministers of 'sitting on their hands' as more strikes cancel trains

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Union bosses have accused Tory ministers of "sitting on their hands" and failing to work constructively to bring an end to the latest wave of strikes across the UK's railways.ScotRail services will be hugely disrupted this week along with cross-border routes as a result of the long-running dispute involving Network Rail and members of the RMT and ASLEF unions."We don’t want disruption, we want a settlement.

There’s been too much disruption on the railway caused by government policy and if we can get sensible proposals we can work up towards a solution," said RMT general secretary Mick Lynch.Network Rail staff will strike again on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.Services will also be severely affected on Thursday due to the challenges of restarting a timetable with just a few hours between strikes.A ScotRail spokesperson said there would be only a very limited service across 12 routes in the central belt, Fife and the Borders.Train drivers in England will also walk out on Thursday, which could affect cross-border services.Trains that do run will start later and finish much earlier than usual, with services typically running between 7.30am and 6.30pm on the day of the strike.The train drivers’ strike on January 5 will affect 15 operators and will result in even fewer services running, with some companies operating "very significantly reduced" timetables.The RMT also has an overtime ban in place at 14 train operating companies until Monday that will continue to affect the level of cancellations and the punctuality of some services.Lynch said he had received "radio silence" since mid-December as he accused UK Government ministers of "sitting on their hands".“They keep saying that they’re facilitating a deal.