Teachers and university staff in England will also go on strike, following a walkout on Wednesday which was one of the largest days of action in a decade.
On Budget Day, up to 500,000 teachers, lecturers, junior doctors, civil servants, London Underground drivers, BBC journalists, and Amazon employees went on strike.
At a rally in London attended by tens of thousands of strikers and supporters, union officials said the strike sent a strong message to the government about how it handled the disputes.
On Thursday, members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at 14 operators will go on strike in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs, and conditions.
Passengers were warned to expect delays, and again on future strike dates on March 30 and April 1.
Trains that do run will begin later and end earlier than usual, typically between 7.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m.
It is expected that 40-50% of train services will run across the country, but there will be wide variations across the network, with no services at all in some areas.
Services on Friday morning may be disrupted as well because much of the rolling stock will be out of place.
This latest round of strikes will be a further inconvenience to our customers, who have already experienced months of disruption, and cost our people even more money at a time when they can least afford it,” said Steve Montgomery, chair of the Rail Delivery Group.
They will also be asking why the RMT leadership blocked the chance to resolve this dispute by refusing to give their members – many of whom would have benefited from a 13% increase – a say on their own deal.
Unfortunately, while we will do everything possible to keep as many trains running as possible, there will be reduced services across many parts of the rail network on all four strike days, so please check before you travel.
Ministers cannot continue to sit on their hands and hope that this dispute will go away, because our members are ready to fight tooth and nail for a negotiated settlement in the coming months.
“RMT members at train operating companies are being denied a say on their own future, while being forced to lose more pay through avoidable strike action,” said Mick Lynch, RMT.
We urge the RMT’s executive to put the Rail Delivery Group’s very fair offer to a democratic vote of their members, as it has done for RMT members working for Network Rail on two separate occasions.
Rail employers are not being given a fresh mandate by the Government to offer our members a new deal on pay, conditions, and job security,” RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said.
“Therefore, our members will now take sustained and targeted industrial action over the next few months.
“The Government can settle this dispute easily by unshackling the rail companies.
“However, its stubborn refusal to do so will now mean more strike action across the railway network and a very disruptive overtime ban.
“Ministers cannot continue to sit back and hope that this dispute will go away, because our members are fully prepared to fight tooth and nail for a negotiated settlement in the coming months.”
