No trains will run across most of England on Friday as drivers in the Aslef union stage their second 24-hour strike this week.
Drivers are to strike as part of a long-running dispute over pay at 14 train operators, leaving passengers facing disruption across Britain.
Most of the major operators have said they will not be able to run trains all day.
Passengers have been urged to check before attempting to travel, with remaining skeleton services on Greater Anglia, LNER and GWR likely to be disrupted.
Most drivers are not on strike at South Western Railway, which hopes to run a full service, while no action is being taken at C2C or Merseyrail.
Trains operated by Transport for London, Scotrail and Transport for Wales are unaffected after the authorities settled pay claims with unions. However, main lines running to and from London will be severely disrupted.
Rail companies have warned that morning services on many lines may also be disrupted on Saturday as trains may be out of position following the strike.
Aslef’s eighth day of national action follows a similar 24-hour strike on Wednesday. No further strikes are planned by any rail union, although Ashlef warned more dates could be announced, saying this week that negotiations over the pay dispute had “backtracked”.
Aslef rejected an initial offer last month from rail operator Rail Delivery Group (RDG) negotiators of 8% over two years with commitments, which the union’s assistant general secretary, Simon Weller, said was “designed to fail”.
He said members were outraged by the offer, which was well below inflation, and were pressing union leaders for stronger industrial action.
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Other unions may be closer to settlement, however. The RMT, whose members have carried out the majority of national strikes over the past year – costing the industry around £480m in lost ticket revenue, according to the RDG – is considering a revised offer from Network Rail.
Network Rail, which is responsible for Britain’s rail infrastructure, told staff this week it had added new proposals to a written offer to the union, although the total amount of money is understood to be unchanged from the rejected deal. by RMT members. referendum before Christmas.
The RMT said it would consult with members at local branches about the details of the offer.