Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has refused to take action after union bosses confirmed major rail strikes will go ahead this week.
Thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at Network Rail and 13 train operators will walk out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in the biggest outbreak of industrial action on the railways for 30 years.
Services across the UK will start to be affected from Monday evening, with just one in five trains running on strike days, primarily on main lines and only for around 11 hours. Talks were held into Monday afternoon but the sides remain deadlocked over a deal.
