Status: 12/25/2022 1:45 p.m
For many Britons, the journey home after Christmas this year is difficult. A strike paralyzes rail traffic over the holidays – and travelers often need patience at the airports too.
Trains in Great Britain traditionally stand still on Christmas Day. But Monday, Boxing Day, is the so-called Boxing Day – the busiest day of the year for British railways. This year, however, a strike has left the tracks empty.
As the route operator Network Rail announced, there will be no trains on Monday. The connections to London’s Heathrow and Stansted airports would also have to be canceled. The RMT union had called on thousands of Deutsche Bahn employees to stop working on Saturday evening. The strike is expected to last until Tuesday morning.
Also on Tuesday restrictions in rail traffic
But on Tuesday, connections could still fail during the day or travelers would have to be prepared for delays. The railway company ScotRail announced to the BBC that the first trains would not be able to run again until 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday at the earliest. In some regions of the country, it is to be expected that train services will be canceled until the afternoon.
Network Rail called on travelers to find out about the existing connections before they travel. The AA Motorists’ Association estimates that more than 15 million cars could be on the UK’s roads as a result of the Boxing Day rail strike.
More strikes announced in January
The wage dispute at the British railways has been going on for months. The RMT union had called for strikes several times during the year. And she wants to call again shortly after the turn of the year to stop work, as the BBC further reported. Accordingly, walkouts have already been announced for January 3rd and 4th as well as for January 5th and 6th.
The union is demanding higher wages and better working conditions for railway employees. RMT rejected previous offers from the route operators.
Sunak against further offers of wage increase
Most recently, however, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also spoke out against wage increases that went beyond the offers already submitted by employers. Sunak was not only referring to the railways, but also to other sectors in which wage disputes were accompanied by strike action, such as the public sector. He justified his refusal with the risk of driving up inflation even further.
The railways have been largely privatized in Great Britain since the 1990s. However, private operators must comply with certain government regulations.
There are also strikes at airports
But this year it is not just the rail strike that is making it more difficult for the British to travel over the Christmas period. Border officials have also been on strike at several airports since Friday, including London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports. They want to stop work until New Year’s Eve, but the strike is due to end on December 27th. At the start of the Christmas travel wave on Friday, there were already long queues at the airports.