1.  Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek has declared the strike illegal because striking train drivers did not follow correct negotiating procedures before walking off the job at midnight Tuesday.

2.  The company used management staff to replace striking train guards in an attempt to keep as many services running as possible.

3.  The striking train engineers protested working conditions and a cost-saving contract signed by other unions.

4.  Striking train drivers occupied a railway bridge here overnight on Tuesday disrupting main-line train services between Paris and the western ports of Rouen and Le Havre.