Train workers set to stage series of 24-hour strikes

WORKERS at six train operating companies including Southern are to stage a series of 24-hour strikes in the new year in the long-running dispute over the role of guards.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at South Western Railway, Greater Anglia, Merseyrail, Arriva Rail North and the Isle of Wight’s Island Line will walk out on January 8, 10 and 12, while those on Southern will strike on January 8.

The union said it had made ‘every single effort’ to resolve the bitter disputes. The strikes will cause fresh disruption to passengers, days after a rail fares increase.