October rail strike: Worst rail disruption of year as train workers walk out leaving Preston railway station eerily quiet

Members of four unions have begun a 24-hour walkout in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

It means only 11 per cent of usual train services will run, with large areas of the UK left with no services at all.

No trains are running between London and major cities including Edinburgh, Brighton and Newcastle.

Some operators including Northern, Avanti West Coast and Southeastern are not running any trains for the whole day.

Tricia Williams, chief operating officer at Northern, said: “We apologise in advance for the significant disruption and inconvenience this action by the RMT and ASLEF unions will cause to our customers.

“As we have previously pledged, we will continue to work towards a resolution to this issue with the hope of avoiding more disruptive strikes in the future.”

Unions say there is little progress in resolving disputes, but rail bosses want pay to be linked to modernisation.

It is the first time the rail unions – RMT, Aslef, Unite and the TSSA - have walked out on the same day, and will involve about 54,000 members, so services will be more disrupted than on previous strike days.

Are there any further disruptions on Northern trains?

Strike action by the RMT on Saturday, October 8 is also expected to bring all but a handful of services to a halt, with Northern still working on a skeleton timetable to be published in due course.

Customers are advised not to travel on Saturday, October 8.

Given the impact strikes have on fleet displacement, Northern is also advising customers to ‘check before you travel’ on Sunday, October 2 and October 9, when services cannot start until later in the morning.