After the holiday break, people who are going back to work this week are warned to stay away from rail travel due to strikes.
Services will be "seriously impacted" by the walkouts by RMT members on January 3–4, January 6–8, and January 7–9.
As part of a dispute over wages, job security, and working conditions, RMT union members have rejected offers.
The Aslef union, which represents train drivers at 15 rail firms, is on strike over compensation.
The combination of strikes, according to Network Rail, which is responsible for maintaining the tracks, signals, and stations, will result in barely 20% of services operating, with many locations seeing no trains at all.
The strikes may impact services in Wales, Scotland, and England.
the days of the December and January rail strikes
Strikes and rising living costs will affect New Year's celebrations
If nobody arrives, we close early, the tavern says.
Network Rail issued a statement saying, "We're sorry to have to encourage travellers to avoid using the railroad this week."
Additionally, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which is an association of train operating firms, recommended people to travel only "absolutely necessary" situations.
When trains do operate, they will start and end much later than usual; on strike days, services typically run from 7:30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m.
On January 8, there might be some more service disruptions.
It is recommended that travellers plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys.
It is the most recent in a string of disruption-causing strikes that have occurred across the rail network.
There are 14 train operators and about 40,000 RMT members working for Network Rail during the two 48-hour walkouts on Tuesday and Friday.
Mick Lynch, the general secretary of the RMT, stressed that his people wanted a settlement, not more upheaval.
"Government policy has caused too much disturbance on the railway, and if we can obtain reasonable alternatives, we can work up to a solution," Mr. Lynch told the BBC.
He charged that ministers in the administration were "sitting on their hands" and doing nothing to forward a deal.
"They continue to claim that they are brokering a deal. And in my opinion, the situation is completely reversed.
A Department of Transportation representative, however, refuted this and stated: "The government has shown it is being reasonable and stands ready to promote a settlement to rail conflicts.
"The unions need to participate as well," the speaker said.
The agreement Network Rail has proposed to the RMT is described as "fair and reasonable" and the company implores the union to "sit down with us" and reevaluate it.
Separately, 15 other rail firms' train drivers are participating in the Aslef strike.
The RDG cautioned that the one-day strike will cause even fewer services to run, with some operators expecting to run "quite severely reduced timetables."
The Aslef union claimed that because the train companies had not made an offer, they had been forced into taking action.
According to Keith Richmond, a spokesman for Aslef, "six months after we had the chutzpah to ask for a salary rise for train drivers who, as of right now, have not had an increase for nearly four years, we still have not received an offer from the train companies which employ us."
"The firms, or the government that supports them, might put an end to this conflict right away by making a sincere and reasonable compensation offer.
No one wanted to see the strikes take place, according to Daniel Mann, director of industrial operations at the RDG.
Instead of unions sentencing their members to losing more income in the new year, this issue can only be addressed by agreeing to the long overdue improvements to working conditions needed to put the industry on a sustainable foundation.
After the epidemic created a hole in its budget, the rail industry is under pressure to make savings. According to managers, reforms must be accepted in order to fund pay rises and modernise the railway.
Unions contend that raises in pay are necessary to reflect the rising cost of living.
The country is currently experiencing a large-scale industry walkout.
In the last few weeks, there have been strikes by nurses, highway workers, driving examiners, ambulance drivers, and postal workers.
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