Rail firm in court bid to halt strike

The rail company challenged the validity of a ballot organised by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, as peace talks took place in a bid to resolve a row over jobs.

The RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association are planning a four-day strike from April 6 which would cause severe disruption to train services across the country, including Yorkshire.

The unions are protesting at plans to axe 1,500 jobs and increase signallers' evening and weekend maintenance work.

In a statement Network Rail said: "We can confirm that papers have been served on the RMT. This calls into question the validity of its ballot amongst our signallers, highlighting scores of discrepancies and inaccuracies."

The RMT union said its ballot was "perfectly above board".

The train firm East Coast said yesterday it will operate a revised timetable on the days affected if the strike goes ahead.

It plans to run services between London King's Cross and Leeds, and London King's Cross and York, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow Central.

These would start running at 7am with a near normal service until 6.30pm, after which time services will close down.