Train strike talks end in failure

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/london/5317584.stm

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Talks aimed at averting more strikes on South West Trains (SWT) services have ended without an agreement.

Drivers are set to walk out for 24 hours on Friday and Monday, crippling services into London's Waterloo Station and across southern England.

Union Aslef said it put proposals to the train company to resolve the impasse, but an official said it was a "pretty sure bet" strikes would happen.

Thousands of people were affected by strikes on the line last month.

An SWT statement said: "Further discussions were held today. The union has now gone away to consider its position and has promised to come back to us tomorrow.

"Until Aslef tells us otherwise, the strikes are still on."

Emergency timetable

The strikes are expected to involve some 1,000 drivers, and an Aslef spokesman said the strike is likely to affect between "90% and 95% of services".

He said, however, the union still hoped to resolve the dispute without industrial action.

"That's what we want. That's why we've got talks again tomorrow to see if we can get a settlement."

An emergency timetable has been prepared, but commuters have been warned many services will have to be cancelled if the strikes go ahead.

During the strikes last month SWT was only able to run 300 services out of a scheduled 1,700.

The dispute began over the use of taxis for some drivers based at Waterloo, but became more serious after SWT used managers to drive trains during a previous industrial action.