Train passengers in York are to face delays as drivers at 16 rail companies stage a fresh wave of walkouts in the long running row over pay.

Aslef members will hold a rolling programme of one-day strikes between Friday, April 5, to the following Monday (April 8).

In York they will walk out at LNER, which operates the East Coast Main Line; Northern, which operates services from York to Leeds; TransPennine Express, whose services run from York to cities including Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool, and to Malton and Scarborough; and CrossCountry, whose services run from York to cities including Birmingham and Bristol.

Members of the drivers’ union will also refuse to work their rest days from Thursday, April 4, to Saturday, April 6, and from Monday 8 to Tuesday, April 9.

The drivers’ union said it wanted to increase the pressure on the “intransigent” train companies and the “tone-deaf” government following a series of strikes stretching back 20 months.

Train drivers have now not had a pay rise for five years, since April 2019, Aslef said.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “Last month, when we announced renewed mandates for industrial action, because under the Tories’ draconian anti-union laws we have to ballot our members every six months, we called on the train companies, and the government, to come to the table for meaningful talks to negotiate a new pay deal for train drivers who have not had an increase in salary since 2019.

York Press: Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef (Image: Lucy North/PA)

“Our members voted overwhelmingly – yet again – for strike action.

“Those votes show a clear rejection by train drivers of the ridiculous offer put to us in April last year by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) which knew that offer would be rejected because a land grab for all the terms and conditions we have negotiated over the years would never be accepted by our members.”

He added: “Drivers wouldn’t vote for industrial action, again and again and again, if they thought that was a good offer. That offer was dead in the water in April last year and (Transport Secretary Mark Harper) knows that.”

Mr Whelan said that the union has “given the government every opportunity to come to the table” to resolve the dispute.

A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said: “Nobody wins when industrial action impacts people’s lives and livelihoods, and we will work hard to minimise any disruption to our passengers.

“We want to resolve this dispute, but the Aslef leadership need to recognise that hard-pressed taxpayers are continuing to contribute an extra £54 million a week just to keep services running post-Covid.

“We continue to seek an agreement with the Aslef leadership and remain open to talks to find a solution to this dispute.”