Ommuters faced another day of rail disruption after strike action on Friday.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at 14 train operators walked out on Thursday in a protracted spat over wages, jobs and working conditions.
Trains started later than usual and ended early, around 6:30pm, affecting CrossCountry, Great Western Railway, Northern and Southeastern, among others.
The disruption lasted until Friday, as many trains were not at their usual depots overnight, leading to delays in resuming services.
Services at businesses involved in Thursday’s strike were not expected to begin until after 7 a.m. Friday.
Greater Anglia said on Twitter that some of its services have been canceled and no trains will run between Bethnal Green and Cambridge until 10am.
Commuters shared their frustration on social media as they struggled to reach their destinations.
Twitter user Nicky Owen shared a photo of a line of people waiting to access her local train station.
“I thought the #train strike was Thursday! I just want to go to work,” she wrote.
In the UK, up to half of normal weekday services would run on Thursdays, but in some areas there were no trains all day.
Further strike actions are planned for Saturday, March 30 and April 1.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the dispute is “stuck at deadlock” because the latest bid is “underfunded”.
He said: “The government supports the train operators and gives them their mandate.
“They have made a salary proposal of 5 percent for last year and 4 percent for next year, which is well below the inflation rate.
“But they’ve said that all those pay increases as they are – which amounts to pay cuts – should be funded by changes in our members’ working conditions.”
Mr Lynch called it a “self-funded wage increase” that has left the union “in a deadlock” with “no way out”.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), representing train operators, claimed that the RMT “blocked the opportunity to resolve this dispute” by not putting the final bid to a vote among its members.
Steve Montgomery, chairman of the RDG, said the new round of strikes is an added inconvenience to commuters who have already had “months of disruption”.
“They will also ask why the RMT leadership blocked the chance to resolve this dispute by refusing to allow their members – many of whom would have benefited from a 13 percent increase – a say in their own deal,” he said.
A Ministry of Transport spokesman urged the RMT to “put the very fair offer of the Rail Delivery Group to a democratic vote among their members”.
Mr Montgomery said: “While we will do everything we can to keep as many trains running as possible, unfortunately there will be fewer services on many parts of the rail network on all four strike days. trip.”
The railway strikes follow a week of industrial action.
Up to half a million teachers, tutors, junior doctors, civil servants, London Underground drivers, BBC journalists and Amazon employees stopped working on Wednesday in one of the biggest days of industrial action in a decade.