Strikes have become a regular occurrence in Europe, and employees have started to withhold their labor to stand up for better conditions and pay.
While some walkouts are planned and announced months in advance, there are those that are revealed at the last minute.
Therefore, the relevant authorities in the country have warned passengers to check and confirm their travel arrangements before they travel.
Spain
In lieu of the strikes, rail travel throughout Spain is likely to experience severe disruptions in the coming month as staff have announced several walkouts in the month of February.
The first industrial action was initiated by the Spanish Trade Union, CCOO, on the 9th of February.
It resulted in a 23-hour stoppage, which led to the cancelation of a total of 310 mid and long-distance Renfe trains. Consequently, there were delays in high-speed AVE trains as well.
Moreover, 330 long-distance trains, as well as 641 mid-distance services, were scrapped due to the strikes.
As of now, there is only a skeleton service operating in the country, which is a legal obligation as per the Ministry of Transport in Spain.
This is likely to reduce the number of cancelations being experienced in rail in the country, but the authorities are not very hopeful.
Other cancelations
Meanwhile, another key union, UGT, in Spain, has confirmed that it will be going on strike and that will lead to partial nationwide stoppages for at least 2-hour periods each Monday.
This is part of a schedule that has been created specifically for February, with an impact on transport on the 12th, 19th, and 26th of February.
Both CCOO and UGT have announced walkouts for the 16th and 17th of February on the Rodalies trains in Catalonia, between 7 and 9 am, followed by 3 and 5 pm.
According to the unions, these strikes were called shortly after the rail infrastructure manager, Adif failed to implement a 35-hour work week, and Renfe refused to eliminate categories of income.
Italy
Meanwhile, rail transport in Italy is also likely to face severe delays and disruptions, especially on the 12th of February.
This is mainly because staff of Trenitalia and Trenord, a state-owned railway company, have announced a walk out.
Following in their footsteps, Italo, a private long-distance operator announced the same and is going to be going on strike on Monday.
These strikes will have an impact on all kinds of rail services, which include regional and long-distance trains for eight hours.
The stoppage was announced early in the previous month by two of the key transport trade unions in Italy, SGB and CUB.
The two decided to protest against working conditions in rail transport and opposed the proposals presented to privatize the railway sector.
As per national law, the authorities have announced that only a minimum number of services will be available for the duration of the strike.
Just like Italy, London Overground has also revealed that it will be going on strike between the 19th and 20th of February and the 4th to the 5th of March.
