Rail strikes: Parts of Sussex could have no services at all - update on Monday June 13

Tens of thousands of rail workers have decided to walk out on Tuesday June 21, Thursday June 23 and Saturday June 25 across Network Rail and 13 operating companies.

The RMT union says its members have faced multi-year pay freezes, while it suggests plans to cut thousands of jobs would make the country’s railways unsafe.

Any passengers in Sussex travelling up to London on the Tuesday will be affected by strike action on the London Underground.

While staff at Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates Southern and Thameslink, have not backed strike action, these services are still expected to be ‘significantly reduced during this period’.

According to its website, GTR ‘will now work closely with the wider rail industry to determine how this will affect us’.

However Southeastern is one of the companies where staff have agreed to strike and it says this is expected to cause ‘significant disruption across our network’. Their strongly recommend passengers to plan ahead and to ‘not travel on these dates and make alternative plans’.

They added: “Most of our stations and routes will be closed and we will only be able to run a severely reduced service.”

The website shows no services running at all past Ashford in Kent or Orpington in South East London.

The National Rail enquiries website also has information for passengers.

Over the weekend the RMT hit back at comments made by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Grant Shapps needs to stop smearing the RMT and unshackle the rail operating companies so they can come to a negotiated settlement that can end this dispute.

"Railway workers voted overwhelmingly for strike action in defence of their jobs and for a pay rise that deals with the rising cost of living. It is insulting to them to suggest they do not understand the issues that affect their daily lives or cannot make a democratic decision by themselves.

"We already have the most restrictive anti-democratic trade union laws in Western Europe and if the government attempts to reduce our rights further, the RMT along with the rest of the trade union movement will mount the fiercest resistance possible."