Trains Misery As Southern Rail Strike Begins

Rail passengers face a week of misery as a five-day strike starts - the longest since 1968 - in a row over whose job it is to open and close doors on trains.

At present, it is the role of conductors - but Southern Rail wants it to become the job of drivers, arguing it will result in faster and more punctual services and will not threaten any jobs or pay.

Angie Doll, passengers services director for Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which owns Southern Railway, told Sky News: "We are keeping conductors. On trains where the driver can control the door, we want to modify the role of conductor and evolve it into a new role where the second person is still on the train to give customers good service."

But the Rail, Maritime and Transport union claims Southern Rail has failed to give them a concrete guarantee "there will be a guard on every train" and fear the change will jeopardise the safety of passengers.

Trains in areas including London, East and West Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire will be affected by the walkout.

On some there will be no service after 6pm and passengers can expect carriages on limited services to be packed.

Picket lines will be mounted across Southern's network, including London Victoria and Brighton in Sussex.

An emergency timetable has been put in place and Southern has said it will run 60% of services.

Some travellers vented their frustrations on social media on Monday morning.

One tweeted: "The irony of the Southern Rail strike is that the usual service is so bad that I genuinely can't tell the difference."

Another wrote: "Southern Rail passengers have been told to expect a disrupted service of late & cancelled trains today. Or 'Monday' as they usually call it."

Danyal Mustafa, 39, who works in IT (Other OTC: ITGL - news) and commutes in to central London from Carshalton, confronted RMT workers on a picket line outside Victoria station and told them: "If you are really upset in your job, get a different job."

Members of the RMT at Southern have staged the walkout after talks aimed at resolving the dispute collapsed.

Trains have been disrupted for weeks because of industrial action and a shortage of staff, blamed on high levels of sickness.

The union has accused the Government of "sabotaging" three days of talks last week at the conciliation service ACAS.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash told Sky News it would suspend strikes as long as the company matched an offer agreed by Scotrail - in a separate but similar dispute - which included the guarantee of a conductor on every train.

GTR said it had offered new assurances on jobs to the union and is pressing ahead with plans to change the role of conductors later this month.

Downing Street said Prime Minister Theresa May "strongly condemns" the walkout, adding: "We are deeply disappointed that union bosses are overlooking the impact that they are having on the public."

A Sky News snap poll of 2,046 people last month showed 55% backed the renationalisation of Britain's railways, while 20% were opposed.