Last-minute festive travellers could face disruption after rail union members announced a new strike from 6pm on Christmas Eve.
The RMT union will tell its members at Network Rail - who maintain the track - not to work from 6pm on December 24 until 6am on December 27.
Christmas Day and Boxing Day have barely any trains anyway, but the action will kick in a few hours before the normal times for final trains on December 24.
Union officials insisted it would have a very limited impact on passengers because it is designed to target engineering works on Network Rail and rail firms are not striking on December 24-27.
It comes on top of the RMT’s planned strikes at both Network Rail and 14 train companies, on December 13, 14, 16 and 17, and January 3, 4, 6 and 7. The December 24-27 strikes are at Network Rail only.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said “we’ve got no choice” after his union rejected train companies' “very poor” offer of a 4% pay rise two years in a row.
As inflation tops 11%, he said it was train firms that were holding the travelling public "to ransom", adding: “We’ve been compelled to take this action because of the intransigence of the government".
He went on: “They want to close every booking office in Britain."
A further meeting between the union and the Rail Delivery Group will take place on Tuesday as pressure mounts to find a resolution to the strike.
On Sunday the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) offered 4% pay rises for 2022 and 2023, and a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies before April 2024. But that was rejected by the RMT within hours.
Today, the RMT said a separate offer from Network Rail - which is different to the train operating firms - will be put to RMT members in an electronic referendum that closes at noon on Monday. But the union is advising members to reject it.
Mr Lynch said: “At the minute, we haven't got anything that's acceptable to us. And we feel that we've been compelled to take this action because of the intransigence of the government.
“We've got no choice because what we've been faced with is an extremely detrimental offer. It's very poor in relation to the pay elements.
“And our members simply aren't in the position - [from] the feedback that we've had - to accept the changes that the companies have put on the table. So the action will go ahead."
Mr Lynch added that it was “an unfortunate position”. He continued: “We remain open to discussion with the companies, they know what needs to be done to get this dispute progressed… but at the moment, we've not gotten the means to a solution.”
Meanwhile, the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) announced it was calling off strikes planned in Network Rail for December and is putting an offer to its members.
The TSSA had been due to strike on December 17 and take other forms of industrial action from December 13.
The union had announced that an offer from the Rail Delivery Group had been rejected, meaning industrial action at train operators would go ahead in the coming weeks.
The TSSA said on Monday that after talks with NR over the weekend, it had received a "best and final offer" in writing from the company, which was considered at a meeting of its reps.
Union members will vote in the coming weeks on whether to accept the offer.
Luke Chester, TSSA organising director, said: "This offer is the best we can achieve through negotiation, and it was undoubtedly improved because of the ballot results and strike action taken by our members, who we applaud.
"Our members will now have their say on this offer and we are suspending strike action."
The TSSA said NR had offered a minimum pay uplift of a consolidated £1,750 or a 5% increase (whichever is greater) to the annual base rates of pay effective from January 2022, and £250 to employees who earn £24,000 a year or less.
Pay will rise by 4% from January 2023.
NR was also offering no compulsory redundancies for general grades and controllers until January 31 2025.
Staff and their families will also get a 75% discount on leisure travel and no unagreed changes to terms and conditions of employment will be made, the union said.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper said: “It’s incredibly disappointing that, despite a new and improved deal offering job security and a fair pay rise, the RMT is not only continuing with upcoming industrial action but has called more strikes over Christmas.
“It’s especially disappointing given the TSSA union has described this new and improved deal as the ‘best we can achieve through negotiation’ and called off strikes."
In fact the TSSA has only suspended its strike action - while members consider the offer.
