Union votes to

Mainline rail workers have voted in favour of strike action. Stoppages across the national network could now take place within weeks in a dispute over pay and pensions.

Bob Crow, the leader of the the RMT, largest of the rail unions, announced today that 58% of the union's members had voted to take industrial action.

Rail users, including 500,000 mainline London commuters, could now be be kept in suspense waiting to know when the strikes will take place.

One option being considered is to hold off announcing strike dates for a few more days to wait for the conclusion of a separate ballot - also over pay - among thousands of London Underground workers. The result of that ballot, also expected to back strike action, will be declared in two weeks' time.

Mr Crow, has already warned that the union plans to synchronise rail and Tube strikes for maximum disruption - the first combined rail and Tube strikes for more than a decade. Rail chiefs say they will try to take the dispute to Acas, the conciliation service. They warn that any strike action will prove hugely damaging to business and result in massive chaos for both rail and Tube users.

The union - which has turned down three per cent pay offers in both disputes - is urged to return to the negotiating table.

NR has ended its final salary pension scheme for new entrants but the union says a replacement scheme is not nearly as good. The company refuses to back down and said today that it had made the "final offer which the company believes is fair and generous".