A rail strike could cause a "summer of discontent" it is feared, with empty supermarket shelves and petrol stations running dry.
Plans are reportedly being drawn up by rail bosses so that freight trains will take priority over passenger services so as to keep supermarket shelves stocked if the strikes do go ahead.
Rail unions have warned of a “summer of discontent” unless they get double-digit pay increases in line with inflation, reported the Express.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Union strike is over redundancies and a demand for “a guarantee there will be no detrimental changes to working practices”.
The union is currently balloting more than 40,000 members across 15 train operators over a possible national rail strike.
Rail minister Wendy Morton insisted that rail workers have already received greater pay increases in the past decade than teachers, nurses, firefighters and ambulance staff.
Ms Morton warned possible strike action “threatens to return us to gloomier days”.
Rail insiders have suggested some tracks could be reserved for moving goods at certain times during the day to prevent shops running out of food and to keep forecourts stocked.
The threat of strike action comes amid a shortage of HGV drivers, meaning that goods transported by train cannot be switched to the roads.
A senior rail source told the Express: “We want to keep people and goods moving but there is no doubt we face serious challenges.
“There is an awful lot of work going on behind the scenes including around what the timetable might look like. One option is times of the day when only freight services operate.”
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is set to meet the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rishi Sunak next week to discuss the issue.
The RMT said the “biggest in modern history” could come as early as next month, although it is yet to outline when and how it will take action.
It will not be able to strike until after the Jubilee long weekend as it must give two weeks’ notice.
Train operators are also drawing up contingency plans, including training managers to dispatch trains.
A Whitehall source suggested supermarket bosses might also be called to discuss contingency plans to limit supply chain disruptions, reported the Express.
A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, reportedly said: “Our whole focus now should be securing a thriving future for rail that adapts to new travel patterns and takes no more than its fair share from taxpayers, instead of staging premature industrial action which would disrupt passengers’ lives and put the industry’s recovery at risk.”
He added that all train operators want to offer their staff a pay rise and said they are “working hard to make that happen.”
He added: “But, as an industry we have to change our ways of working and improve productivity to help pay our own way — the alternatives of asking taxpayers to shoulder even more of the burden after contributing an extra £16 billion to the industry during Covid, or passengers to pay even higher fares when they, too, are feeling the pinch, simply isn’t fair.”
