Guards plan three 24-hour strikes in rail safety row

Commuters are bracing themselves for more travel chaos after it was announced that three 24-hour strikes by guards from nine train operators will start tomorrow.

The stoppages – tomorrow, next Monday and on 17 April – are the biggest bout of industrial action on the privatised network since the signal workers' strikes in 1994-95.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT), called for the action after claiming conductors will be turned into "Kit Kat sellers" under plans to strip guards of their safety role and make drivers responsible for the protection of travellers.

After six hours of talks broke down, Mr Crow said the nine companies refused to accept the key safety role of guards agreed by other operators which would not be affected by the industrial action.

Mr Crow said: "It beggars belief that these train companies are not prepared to accept the changes we are offering." The companies affected by strikes are Silverlink, ScotRail, Thames Trains, Connex South Eastern, Govia South Central, Arriva Trains Merseyside, Central Trains, Virgin Cross Country and Virgin West Coast.

Mr Crow advised passengers not to travel on these services during the strikes by 3,000 guards. The train companies have been training managers to stand in for guards and say they will run as many services as they can despite the industrial action.

Steve Bence, operations director at the Association of Train Operating Companies, said: "The strikes are pointless and unjustified."

Train companies affected by the dispute will be eligible for millions of pounds of taxpayers' money as compensation for the cost of the strikes, the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) said yesterday. The planned walkouts were not justified so it was not fair that the train companies should suffer financially.

An SRA spokesman said giving taxpayers' money to train operators affected by strikes would threaten rail improvement projects. The authority will write to the RMT with a list of projects, such as station improvements, which might not now go ahead because money will be diverted to pay for the cost of the strikes.

The spokesman said: "We will not let the train companies take a financial hit on this because it is not within their power to stop it.

"The strike has no basis in reality and is certainly not a strike about safety. The safety process is already under way and striking will not change the outcome.

"We will be writing to the union with a list of projects, asking them which ones they would like us to cross off because the money will be going to the train operators."

Mr Crow complained bitterly about the Strategic Rail Authority's role in the dispute. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think it is absolutely despicable that the SRA can find £10m to fund employers to take on the railway unions over safety. Why can't this money be used for investment? This will only prolong the dispute."