A fresh set of rail strike dates have been announced as Network Rail workers will walk out over Christmas. 

The strikes come following ongoing disputes over pay, jobs and working conditions.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will still go ahead with their two 48-hour strikes in the coming week, with the addition of a walkout from 6pm December 24 until 6am December 27. 

It comes as the union recommended that members should reject the latest offer made by Network Rail. 

The new strike dates will only affect some passenger services as trains do not run on the 25 and 26 of December, but will mostly disrupt planned engineering works on the railway.

Although new dates have been announced, the RMT has called off some planned action, with the overtime ban now cancelled during the Christmas period. 

Next week will see timetables reduced by 80% with the first set of strikes taking place on December 13-14. 

The union had been made an offer by the Rail Delivery Group  (RDG) earlier this week, which offered two 4% pay increases over two years, closing ticket offices and changes to working timetables as well as more. 

Speaking of the new strike dates, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that it was "unfortunate that the union had been compelled to take this action."

He said: "We remain available for talks in order to resolve these issues but we will not bow to pressure from the employers and the government to the detriment of our members."

Rail Strikes

Why are Rail Strikes taking place? 

Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) are walking out over various 48-hour periods in the run-up to Christmas. 

The strikes come over continued disputes over pay, working conditions and job security. 

More than 40,000 train workers will take action during the strikes.

When are the rail strike dates in December 2022?

  • Thursday, December 13
  • Wednesday, December 14
  • Friday, December 16
  • Saturday, December 17
  • From 6pm Christmas Eve, December 24 until 05.59 Bank Holiday, December 27

See our explainer on all the strikes set to take place in December here.