Travellers heading to the England rugby game or Manchester’s Christmas markets could be caught up in rail disruptions as union members working for two of the country’s biggest rail operators go on strike.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) on South Western Railway (SWR) and Arriva Rail North (ARN or Northern) went on strike on Saturday as part of a long-running dispute over the use of guards on trains.

Rugby fans going to the England v Japan game at Twickenham and Christmas shoppers heading for Manchester may be badly affected. Concertgoers may also struggle to get home as Northern said only 30% of its services would run, with no late trains running after several concerts in the north-west, including the Jess Glynne concert at the Manchester Arena andthe Courteeners gig at the First Direct Arena in Leeds.

Both companies will run bus replacement services on parts of their network.

The RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, said: “It is a national scandal that while other train operators have been prepared to engage seriously with RMT on the crucial issue of a guaranteed second safety-critical member of staff on their services, ARN and SWR have dragged their heels and made a mockery of the talks process to the point now where they refuse point-blank to engage in any meaningful negotiations at all.

“It is crystal clear that the axing of guards is a cash-driven exercise aimed at shoring up profits on these rail franchises regardless of the public consequences.”

An SWR spokesperson said: “We have guaranteed to roster a guard on every single service. Our plans mean more guards, not fewer.



“The RMT union should now commit to resolving their dispute which causes misery for our customers and hard-working colleagues alike.”

A Northern spokesperson said: “In a recent letter to the RMT general secretary, Northern called on the union to reconvene talks. RMT will need to demonstrate that they are serious about making progress by suspending industrial action and agreeing to discuss the options that they themselves put forward during the first Acas talks in September.



“During those talks, the RMT changed its mind about what it would discuss between the first and second meetings, making it impossible to progress. We have offered to explore all options, including those RMT has agreed with other train operators, but they refuse to discuss these with Northern.



“Instead, they responded by cynically targeting the weekends in November and December to hit Christmas markets and important seasonal events. Not only will this include the 19th consecutive Saturday of RMT strike action but also the 42nd day of strike action. RMT’s strikes are causing more and more unnecessary difficulty and inconvenience for our customers and significant loss of earnings for their members.”

They said the firm’s offer to resume talks at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service remained open and it called on the union to return to the table.