Caption: Passengers face travel chaos as train drivers strike for third time in four days
credit: PA
Travellers in the most populous part of England are facing a day of serious train disruption as union Aslef holds its final day of driver strikes.
There will be a significant reduction in services in the south-east of England and in East Anglia as members walk out in a long-running dispute over pay.
Among the operators affected are c2c, Gatwick Express, Great Northern, Greater Anglia, Southeastern, Southern, South Western Railway, and Thameslink.
The Stansted Express and the Isle of Wight’s Island Line will also be impacted by the strike.
No trains at all will run on the c2c, Great Northern or Gatwick Express networks.
Greater Anglia trains will start later and finish earlier than normal on several major routes, with no service on others.
There will also be an extremely reduced service on Southeastern and South Western Railway, while Southern and Thameslink will be running limited shuttles between Gatwick Airport and Luton Airport respectively.
Thameslink will also run a limited non-stop shuttle service between London Kings Cross and Cambridge.
An additional overtime ban is in place with other providers around the country today and tomorrow which will reduce services further.
An Aslef picket line in Reading on Saturday (Picture: Geoffrey Swaine/Shutterstock)
The pay dispute between Aslef and rail companies has been running for almost two years, and no talks are currently planned to resolve it.
Picket lines were to be formed this morning at stations including Cambridge, Colchester, King’s Lynn and Norwich.
Earlier strikes took place on Friday and Saturday, hitting most of England’s major rail operators.
A planned Tube strike that was also due to take place today was resolved last Thursday following negotiations.
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