Tube and Southern rail strikes: Thousands of British commuters prepare for travel misery

Trains that are running on those days are expected to be much busier than usual

Southern Rail passengers are facing yet more disruption (EPA)

A fresh wave of strikes on train services across the country are set to bring travel chaos – and misery – for thousands of commuters this week.

Walkouts at Southern, Merseyrail, Arriva Rail North - which runs the Northern franchise - and Greater Anglia on Tuesday and Thursday will affect journeys from the south coast to the Lake District and Newcastle.

Trains that are running on those days are expected to be much busier than usual.

Greater Anglia is planning to run a full service on the strike days and Southern said there will be a normal service on most of its routes.

Arriva Rail North aims to run around 1,200 services across the North, 46 per cent of its normal timetable, on both days between 7am and 7pm.

Most Merseyrail services will run between 7am and 7pm, with a break during the middle of the day, and some stations will be closed.

RMT members on South Western Railway are also voting on whether to strike over the role of guards.

Southern's passenger services director Angie Doll said: "The RMT is striking about changes we made almost a year ago as part of our modernisation programme.

"Nobody has lost their job over this, in fact we employ more on-board staff to help passengers than we did before, and we are providing a better service with fewer cancelled trains."

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "These strikes are about putting the safety and security of the travelling public before the profits of private companies, profits that in the most part are shipped overseas to subsidise transport services in Europe and China. That is a national scandal.

"It is disgraceful that we have been unable to get serious and meaningful talks going in any of these disputes and that points clearly to the dead-hand of the Government driving the faceless railway policy on purely ideological grounds and demanding that their contractors fall in line."

Rail minister Paul Maynard said: "The RMT should stop using passengers as pawns in their political game, call off this strike action and return to talks.

"This dispute is not about jobs as all the companies have guaranteed posts and I have been clear I want to see more people working on the railways, not fewer.

"It's not about safety either as the independent regulator has ruled that driver-controlled trains are safe."

Transport for London has separately warned of disruption to its services on Thursday as London Underground drivers from the Aslef union are set to strike in a row over working conditions.

Talks aimed at averting the strike were held for several hours on Monday but have been adjourned and will resume on Tuesday.