Tom Giffard

Commuters considering using trains This Week around the rail strikes have been advised. . just don't. And in Wales, you probably won't get a train anyway.

Passengers in Wales will be severely affected when thousands of frontline rail staff Strike on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but journeys on The Days between walkouts will be affected too.

There are no trains west of Cardiff or north of Merthyr Tydfil on Strike days.

Just four Welsh services remain and they will operate a limited service.

Trains will start and finish earlier from 07:30 BST to 18:30 across most of the rail network on days of industrial action, which were called by the RMT union after talks over pay and redundancies fell through.

A for 20 to 26 June has been published, and Network Rail has said passengers should travel by train Only If necessary.

Disruption is also expected on non-Strike days, because of too few staff working overnight and morning shifts not clocking on until The Morning commute has begun.

Not many. Four services in total, with three on Transport for Wales' reduced Valley line network.

On the South Wales to London mainline, There will be just nine trains running in each direction, but trains will only operate from Cardiff Central. Stations between the Welsh capital and Swansea will have no services.

Those direct will be one an hour, and not the usual two, with The First service leaving each terminus halfway through the usual Morning Rush hour.

The First service out of Cardiff Central to London is 07:49, arriving at Paddington at 09:40 while The First service to Cardiff from London is 08:13, arriving in the Welsh capital at 10:11.

The from Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil , but they will be reduced to an hourly service and will terminate at Radyr with a bus service connection to Cardiff Central.

That means the usual approximately hour-long trip between The End of line and Cardiff Central on Strike days could be up to 45 minutes longer, and that's in each direction.

South Wales to London:

The reason why some Valley line services can't just run, but start earlier in The Morning and later in the evening on Strike days, is because TfW doesn't just run the trains but owns The Track and signal operations above Radyr after it was two years Ago .

Valley line routes to Rhymney, Coryton and Cardiff Bay and Cardiff's City Line will be suspended as signalling for those lines is operated by Network Rail .

Trains between North Wales and London will be suspended on Strike -days as between Euston and Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Preston and Glasgow.

TfW has warned passengers to expect the services that are operating " to be very busy" while GWR says people face " severe disruption" and asked commuters " to only travel by rail if absolutely necessary. "

Across the UK, four out of five trains won't run during The Strikes , with 4,500 services operating compared to the usual 20,000. Rail workers like maintenance staff, signallers and operations teams are in dispute.

GWR said while it would operate 30% of its usual timetable on Strike days, it would only be 50% on no Strike days.

With nightshift workers on Strike , on The Morning of non-Strike days many staff, such as signallers, won't clock on In Time to get the rail network back up and running for the Morning Rush hour so commuters are asked to work from home on Those Days too.

Drivers in Wales and Scotland have been warned to face long queues as most railway lines in both nations are shut during the biggest rail walkout for More Than 30 years.

The AA has predicted a surge in traffic This Week as train passengers switch to road transport with the worst affected roads likely to be main motorway arteries, as well as rural and suburban areas.

The M4 Corridor across South Wales and the A55 North Wales expressway are expected to be congested on Tuesday and Thursday, traffic analysts have forecast, especially during Rush Hour .

The AA has also said the A483 and A470 through The Middle of Wales and the A5 in the north will be busier than normal, and drivers should leave more time to travel.

" Even though The Strike is for Three Days , many travellers will give up on the trains for the whole week, " said an AA spokesman.

" Generally we predict a big increase in traffic in Scotland, Wales and major routes across the UK.

The Rail Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union has said members working for train companies have been subjected to " pay freezes, threats to jobs and attacks on their terms and conditions".

Network Rail plans to cut 2,500 maintenance jobs as it tries to make £2bn of savings over The Next two years.

The RMT said the jobs are safety critical, and cutting them will make accidents more likely, so 40,000 rail workers will walk out for Three Days , starting on Tuesday.

Network Rail said it would not consider any changes that would make the railways less safe and that modernisation is needed.

RMT members are striking and they include people working for Network Rail , which maintains the railways throughout Britain, in Wales as well as those employed by train operating companies.

However, TfW - Now owned by the Welsh Government - is not in dispute with the unions although it has warned of disruption because its trains use railways run by Network Rail .

Welsh Education Minister Jeremy Miles said the Labour Welsh Government is " obviously pleased" staff at TfW aren't striking.

" Clearly The Strikes elsewhere will have a significant disruptive impact in Wales and We Are asking the UK Government to do everything to avoid that disruption, " Mr Miles told the.

" When people are put in The Position that the UK Government have, people don't have many options. Nobody wants to see strikes, not even the unions, but the UK Government needs to Now Step Up . "

But Tory Member of the Senedd (MS) Tom Giffard said the " unions are just stuck in the past" so it was " really unfortunate these strikes are going ahead. "

" Network Rail and the [UK Government 's] Department for Transport had said that negotiations had barely started before the unions started balloting to Strike . . and the timing of this Strike was just to maximise disruption as best it could, " added the South Wales West MS.

The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, said: " If we cannot provide a service for customers due to Strike action then we will refund customers. "

It has not decided whether customers worried about disruption could cancel trips in advance and get refunds.

There may be options such as switching to a different operator or travelling on another date. But it says customers will not be compensated for things like hotel stays.

Season ticket holders will be able to apply for a refund for The Days affected.

Source of news: bbc.com