Scottish Caledonian Sleeper Trains halted by RMT strike

There will be no further sleeper services before Christmas, in spite of this normally being an especially busy period.

Members of the RMT union voted to back the 48-hour strike in a dispute with operator Serco over defects on trains.

Serco has insisted that any faults on its rolling stock have been repaired, or will be repaired.

Talks held at the conciliation service Acas on Monday failed to resolve the dispute.

The strike has forced the operator to cancel trains and refund passengers.

'Complete contempt'

 

The RMT union has said its members are concerned about a range of faults on the trains, which Serco has failed to fix.

Network Rail faces regulator grilling over reliability

Train services run by Southern, Thameslink and ScotRail all missed punctuality targets, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said.

Network Rail maintains the rail system.

Rail passenger journeys have risen 59.1% since 2005, while freight is up 9.1%.

 

Passengers using Thameslink routes have had to deal with disruption caused by long-term work at London Bridge, while track and signalling failures have disrupted travellers on Southern lines.