A TRAIN company has urged the RMT union to work to seek “a swift resolution” to a pay dispute to avoid strike action that could cripple rail services across the country.

Members of the union at train companies and Network Rail will walk out for 24 hours on July 27. Strike action last month by the RMT paralysed the UK’s rail network.

Workers at Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) will be joining others in the walk-out later this month after a ballot of RMT members backed industrial action.

Angie Doll, chief operating officer at GTR, said: “We are extremely disappointed that passengers across the country now face the anxiety of further rail disruption.

“Our focus remains on encouraging the RMT to work with the industry to seek a swift resolution.”

It is understood that the firm, which operates Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express services, will run a severely reduced service on the day and disruption will have a knock-on effect into the following day.

Industrial action over three days last month saw only a skeleton service operate across Sussex, with GTR services to the west and eastern parts of Sussex suspended.

Trains started earlier and finished later, with no Gatwick Express service on strike days.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train companies across the UK, said: “This latest round of action will cause more misery for millions and take money out of the industry at a time when passenger numbers remain 20 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, making it harder to afford a pay increase.

“We want to give our people a pay rise. But to do that we have to bring working practices that are in some cases decades-old up to date so that we can adapt to new, more leisure-led travel patterns, including making Sunday part of the standard working week, so services are more reliable at weekends.

“The alternative is asking taxpayers to shoulder the burden after contributing over £600 per household to keep the railway running during the pandemic, or asking passengers to pay even higher fares when they two are feeling the pinch - and that simply isn’t fair.

“Instead of staging more counterproductive strikes, we ask the RMT to come back to the table so we can deliver a deal that works for our people, our passengers and for taxpayers.”

General secretary of the RMT Mick Lynch said a pay offer by Network Rail represents a real-terms pay cut for members and described the proposal as “paltry”.

He said: “Strike action is the only course open to us to make both the rail industry and government understand that this dispute will continue for as long as it takes, until we get a negotiated settlement.

“The public who will be inconvenienced by our strike action need to understand that it is the government’s shackling of Network Rail and the train operating companies that means the rail network will be shut down for 24 hours.”