Hello and welcome to September and to the final independent travel podcast of the week with me Simon Calder.

I'm at London, Houston Station again. Yes, it does feel very much like Groundhog Day because here we are.

I count the 16th month since national rail strikes began

in the summer of 2022 and they are still going on and just to remind you exactly what we are expecting

to see over the next 48 hours. Two days of national rail strikes.

Today, train drivers belonging to the Aslef Union are walking out. Tomorrow it's the turn of the

RMT, the main rail union. Parall disputes on pay jobs and working arrangements. And the

result today is that

I'm looking up at the departure board now

you can go anywhere you want to

as long as it's Watford Junction in Hertfordshire

the normal West Coast mainline services

to the West Midlands, North West England

North Wales, Scotland are not departing today.

There will be some services tomorrow

because the train driver's strike

actually has more of an effect

than the disputes involving RMT members.

And overall, today I'd say roughly 90% of train services are wiped out across

England tomorrow it'll be more like 50% because well bluntly if you look at an operator like

greater anglia running from London Liverpool Street to south end to Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich and Stansted Airport.

They are driver-only operated trains, therefore if the RMT goes on strike, it has less of an impact.

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