RMT announces two more strike days on Northern routes

Northern services operate across the North East, North West, Cumbria and Yorkshire

Rail passengers across the north of England are facing a fresh wave of strikes in a dispute over plans for driver-only-operated trains.

The RMT union has announced two more one-day strikes on Northern trains in the week before the Easter holiday.

It is instructing members to walk out from 00:01 on Monday 26 March and also from 00:01 on Thursday 29 March.

The Department for Transport (DfT) urged RMT to work with Northern to "deliver much needed modernisation".

No-one from Northern was available for comment.

The union has also demanded tripartite talks with the company and the DfT aimed at reaching a solution.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "Every single effort that RMT has made to reach a negotiated settlement with Northern over safe operation and safe staffing has been kicked back in our faces.

'Needless strike'

"No-one should be in any doubt, this dispute is about putting the safety of the travelling public before the profits of the private train companies."

He added: "It is frankly ludicrous that we have been able to negotiate long-term arrangements in Scotland and Wales that protect the guards and passenger safety but we are being denied the same opportunities with rail companies in England."

The strikes will be the latest in a series of walkouts that began last year over proposed changes to the role of the conductor, which the union claims will leave driver-only-operated trains with compromised safety.

A DfT spokesman called the strikes "needless" and added: "Staff at Northern have had their jobs and pay guaranteed for the next eight years. And the independent rail regulator has already been clear that driver-controlled trains, which have been used in this country for 30 years, are safe."