Major disruption is expected on West Midlands Trains later this week, as the TSSA says it is going ahead with its strikes over rest day payments.

The union said roster clerks will strike from 00.01 on Thursday until Friday at 00.01hrs, while duty train crew managers and control grades will not book on between 12.00 on Friday and 12.00 on Saturday.

Services will be reduced on Friday and Saturday, and some sections of the network will have no trains at all. Where they are running, trains will start later than usual and last trains are likely to run before 19.00. Sunday morning services may also be disrupted because some trains will be out of position.

London Northwestern customer experience director Jonny Wiseman said: ‘We are disappointed TSSA has called further unnecessary strike action which is set to cause significant disruption for our customers. We are working hard to reach a resolution to this dispute and urge TSSA to continue talks.

‘We are sorry for the inconvenience this will cause our customers and we are doing everything we can to minimise the impact as much as possible. If the strike action does go ahead we will be running a significantly reduced timetable on both dates. Customers are advised to check before they travel by visiting journey planners and our website.’

This is the second round of strikes after similar action was taken in May this year, after a ballot of more than 100 staff.

TSSA general secretary Maryam Eslamdoust said: ‘These strikes will go ahead as planned because our members have not been given parity with those in other unions – a perfectly reasonable demand.

‘As things stand we face an intolerable situation. Our reps at West Midlands Trains have consulted the membership and they remain determined to proceed with their legitimate action.

‘The last round of industrial action caused a significant impact to services and the same will happen this time around. Of course, as ever our union only takes strike action as a last resort, so we hope that our demands can be met in coming days to avoid any more disruption.’

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