Network Rail begins legal action against RMT to try to halt train strike

Network Rail said tonight it was taking legal action against the RMT union in a bid to stop a signallers' strike due to begin next Tuesday, but added that "constructive talks" between the two sides were continuing. The threat to services after Easter comes from two separate disputes, one with signal staff, who plan industrial action in morning and evening rush hours, and the second with maintenance workers, who are threatening a separate four-day stoppage from Tuesday 6 April. Meetings between the two sides were held today at Acas, the conciliation service, but Network Rail is challenging the legality of the strike ballot among signal staff. Bob Crow, the RMT leader, accused the network operators of "sabotaging" the talks. Train operators are drawing up emergency timetables, and have warned that only one in five trains will run if the most serious industrial action by rail workers since 1994 goes ahead. Network Rail said it had "a responsibility to all our passengers and freight users, and to the country as a whole, to do everything we can to avert a strike. Talks continue and our aim is a negotiated settlement, but we must explore all avenues at our disposal, and that includes legal ones. "We can confirm that papers have been served on the RMT this afternoon. This calls into question the validity of its ballot among our signallers, highlighting scores of discrepancies and inaccuracies. "We will appear before a high court judge tomorrow afternoon." The RMT's 12,000 Network Rail maintenance members voted by 77% in favour of strikes, while its 6,000 signallers backed industrial action by 54%. The Transport Salaried Staffs Association is also planning industrial action over the company's plans to cut 1500 maintenance jobs and change signallers' working practices. Crow said: "We spent two days in constructive talks, making some serious progress, and Network Rail has chosen to sabotage that process by using anti-trade union laws to drag us to court. We ran a perfectly above-board ballot of our members, and we have every intention of defending our position."