Two days of rail strikes on the cards

NORTH East passengers are set to be hit by more disruption as the RMT rail union has announced plans for a further two days of strike action.

Its members will stage 24 hour walk outs on March 26 and March 29 in protest against Arriva Rail North’s plans to introduce driveronly operated trains.

It manages Northern, which runs services between Newcastle and Northumberland and Teesside, as well as the Tyne Valley line to Hexham and Carlisle.

The dispute has been running over a year now and the rail company argues that driver-only trains are a long-due modernisation and point out it is common in other countries.

Rails unions argue reducing the number of guards will negatively impact passenger safety.