RAIL passengers will suffer fresh travel problems today when more operators are hit by strikes by train drivers in a long-running pay dispute.

Members of Aslef at six companies will walk out, leaving some areas with no services all day.

Northern, Chiltern, TransPennine Express and Northern will not run any trains, while there will be reduced services on Great Western Railway, LNER and Heathrow Express.

Northern has advised its customers to make alternative arrangements for travel today as a result of the industrial action. 

Tricia Williams, Northern chief operating officer, said: "We are disappointed that Aslef has chosen to call yet more strike action and we would encourage them to work with the rail industry so we can put an end to this dispute.

"We can only apologise to customers in the meantime for the significant disruption and inconvenience this action by Aslef will cause."

The industrial action is part of a 22-month long pay dispute which has led to a series of strikes, which Aslef claims has cost around £2billion to the rail industry, a "fraction" of what it says would resolve the dispute.

Picket lines will be mounted outside railway stations of affected operators today.

Aslef said it wants to meet with train companies and ministers to try to break the deadlock, claiming that the Government does not want to resolve the row.

No meetings have been held between the union and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) for a year, or with Transport Secretary Mark Harper since December 2022.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: "We've done 17 pay deals in the last 12 months across all sectors, nations and regions - freight, open-access, Elizabeth line, and Tube.

"And yet we only have a problem with one place and the place we have a problem with is the Westminster Government, who are interfering with our pay deals with the private companies we work for."

A new law was introduced last year aimed at ensuring minimum levels of service (MSL) during strikes, but none of the train operators have applied to use it.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "Aslef is the only rail union continuing to strike, targeting passengers and preventing their own members from voting on the pay offer that remains on the table.

"Having resolved disputes with all other rail unions, the Transport Secretary and rail minister have ensured that a pay offer is on the table - taking train drivers' average salaries from £60,000 up to £65,000."

A spokesperson for the RDG said: "MSL legislation is one of many useful tools for managing strike disruption, but it is not a silver bullet.

"Operators' guiding principle is always to make sure they can offer the best, most reliable services possible for their passengers on and around industrial action days, and to do that they need to make careful assessments of their own particular operational circumstances before deciding the best way forward."