Rail strikes aim for 'maximum chaos'

Rail union leaders are accused today of being committed to causing "maximum disruption" by ordering two 48-hour strikes on London's busiest commuter lines.

Staff are being offered an inflation-busting pay deal of fourper cent but are demanding almost double that.

The RMT, the industry's largest union, has ordered the strikes to take place on Thursday 3 January and Friday 4 January, and the following Monday and Tuesday, 7-8 January, on South West Trains services into mainline Waterloo.

In a high turnout, the strike ballot result gives clear warning that if the dispute over pay is not settled, commuters face even more stoppages. An SWT spokeswoman said: "The RMT has chosen once again to go down the route of maximum disruption."

The RMT membership on SWT consists of 2,200 people - mainly station staff and train guards. SWT has already paid its train drivers, who are members of Aslef, 7.6per cent to stop them being poached by rival rail companies. Now the RMT wants the same.

Meanwhile, negotiators are meeting today to try to avert further stoppages following the result of a second strike ballot over the demotion of union activist Greg Tucker.