Rail talks 'must get back on track'

The Prime Minister said a four-day walkout by maintenance workers, signallers and supervisors would be "unhelpful" and benefit neither side.

The Rail Maritime and Transport union and Transport Salaried Staffs Association claims the rail network will "effectively be shut down" by the action between April 6-9.

Yesterday Network Rail said it was trying to convene new talks with the unions, probably early next week, in an attempt to resolve the dispute over jobs and changes to working practices.

The company has not ruled out legal action to try to prevent the strike.

Mr Brown said at a European Union summit in Brussels: "I hope there will be no rail strike. It would be unhelpful for everybody if there was a strike. I think it is possible to see a way forward on this. I believe that nobody wants to lose the services, particularly in April.

"Sometimes talks break down and we need to do our best to get these talks restarted."

The premier went on: "I hope that both sides will recognise the need for a settlement and that there is no gain for anyone in a continuation of this industrial dispute."

The row is over plans to cut 1,500 maintenance jobs and carry out more work in the evenings and weekends. Unions say the move would hit safety – a claim strongly denied by the company. NR said it hoped to achieve most of the job losses through voluntary redundancy.