The Government and the union representing train drivers will hold fresh talks on Tuesday in a bid to resolve their long-running pay dispute.
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said he hopes that the meeting at the Department for Transport (DfT) will be “constructive” after months of stalemate under the Conservatives.
Aslef members have taken 18 days of strikes since the dispute started two years ago, causing huge disruption to passengers.
Monthly Subscription: Enjoy more Railway Magazine reading each month with free delivery to you door, and access to over 100 years in the archive, all for just £5.35 per month.
Click here to subscribe & save
Whelan stressed it was an “initial” meeting, adding: “We hope, with a new Government in place, that we can have constructive talks to get a positive resolution that works for train drivers, who have not had an increase in salary for five years, since 2019, and will help get our railway back on track.”
Mr Whelan said the Conservative government and its transport ministers had “put the brakes” on a deal, adding: “Now, with a new Secretary of State for Transport in place, I hope, and think, we can, and will, get a deal done.”
It will be the first meeting between the union and the department since April last year.
The Rail Delivery Group, which represents train companies involved in the row, has not been invited to attend the meeting.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said in a recent message on X, formerly Twitter: “Fourteen years without a workforce strategy has left our railways understaffed, reliant on voluntary working and lurching from one crisis to the next. Our urgent priority is to reset workforce relations and put passengers first.”
