Train staff strike over East West Rail train door row

The first trains on a £7bn new railway which will eventually connect Oxford and Cambridge could be further delayed due to industrial action.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), which represents train guards, said on Tuesday that its Chiltern Railways members had agreed to take 24-hour strike action.

It comes following a lengthy dispute over plans for drivers to control the opening and closing of carriage doors on services along the first section of the new East West Rail (EWR) route.

Tony Baxter, the interim managing director of Chiltern Railways, said the firm was "disappointed" by the vote in favour of industrial action.

He added that it expected to operate the "vast majority" of services on the days of the industrial action.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said Chiltern had "run most of its network for decades with the driver in full control of the doors", and that this was a "model approved by the independent rail regulator".

The RMT said the planned strike action would last for 24 hours on 10 and 17 October.

This decision came after Chiltern "refused to provide guarantees over the safety critical role of the second person" on board EWR services, the union said.

Eddie Dempsey, RMT general secretary, said the driver-only operation proposed on EWR "represented a significant risk to safety and the current Train Manager roles".

"The actions of Chiltern management to not take these concerns seriously is totally unacceptable," he said.

"RMT will not accept the watering down of safety on the rail network."

In November 2025, the BBC revealed that a standoff between Chiltern and the RMT over who would control the opening and closing of carriage doors could delay the route opening.

Tuesday's announcement by the RMT marks the culmination of that dispute.

Explaining Chiltern's proposals, Baxter said "every" East West Rail service would have two people on board - a driver and "a colleague looking after passengers".

"We have run most of our trains with the driver in control of the doors for decades, safely and as approved by the independent rail regulator," he stressed.

"We remain committed to working with the RMT to resolve this, and urge them to work with us so passengers can start benefiting from this new railway as soon as possible."

A DfT spokesperson added the plans "will not change" the roles, terms or staffing levels of Train Managers, and that "any suggestion otherwise is false".

"Whilst Chiltern expect the vast majority of their services to run in the event of strikes, we urge RMT to call off this action, work with us to get this railway open and realise its benefits for passengers," the spokesperson added.

The infrastructure between Oxford and Milton Keynes has been available since October 2024, with services due to begin by the end of December 2025.

But so far, the route has only been used for training runs, freight services and HS2-related testing.

Operator Chiltern Railways said in August that "significant progress" had been made, but that it could not provide a date for the route opening.

When complete, East West Rail will directly connect the two university cities of Oxford and Cambridge by train for the first time in decades.

The planned route, which will travel via Milton Keynes and Bedford, is hoped to be completed by the mid to late 2030s.

Earlier this month, Chiltern Railways was brought into public ownership after 30 years as a private company.

It is the 10th rail company now under the Great British Railways (GBR), the government's programme of public ownership, which it says will save money and improve services.