Rail misery for millions

Holidaymakers returning home will be caught in the first of four days of stoppages by rail workers, which will effectively shut down the UK's rail network for the first time in 16 years.

Union bosses have confirmed the first strike will take place on April 6, the Tuesday after the Easter holidays when millions of commuters will be trying to get back to work after the holidays and thousands of holidaymakers will be on their way back home.

The Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) said it did not want 'to spoil people's Easter holidays' by calling a strike earlier, but there will still be many travellers caught up in the industrial action.

Although the 5,800 discontented signal workers will only walk out for four hours at a time, the strikes will take place at rush hour, for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, to cause the maximum amount of chaos.

Maintenance staff and managers will also join the strike, walking out from 6am on Tuesday April 6 to midnight on Thursday April 9. The joint action is likely to lead to the cancellation of 75 per cent of rush-hour trains every day of the strike.

The unions, who are angry at proposed job cuts and new working hours, claim the changes will compromise rail safety.

Passengers are also facing disruption on the London Underground as the RMT is threatening industrial action from tube workers in a dispute over staffing of underground stations.

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