Honiton: Why are there so many train strikes?

This weekend the largest train strike in decades is taking place with only a fraction of the UK's railway network operating.

It comes after a summer of strikes which have affected services running through Honiton. There was a strike earlier this month, in August and July

Why are strikes taking place?

The railway unions are involved in a dispute with the government and rail companies about pay, changes to conditions and job cuts.

Regarding pay, the unions want their salaries to increase to reflect the rising cost of living. Other issues involve plans for Network Rail to cut approximately 2,500 safety critical maintenance jobs as part of a £2bn reduction in spending. There are also proposed changes to worker's conditions.

The leader of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) Mick Lynch is in talks with the new Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan. According to Lynch, the talks were a "good start", but that "concrete change" was needed in order to prevent further strikes.

An offer of an 8% pay rise over two years had been made by Network Rail, along with discounted travel, a cash bonus and a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies.

This deal was rejected by RMT. According to Mike Lynch the deal was "entirely conditional on mass redundancies and changes to conditions and working practices".