Rail strike breakers paid £50 an hour

Strike-breaking rail managers were paid £50 an hour on top of their salaries to work on the front line during walkouts over Christmas, documents show.

Salaried workers could get as much as £6,500 in extra pay if they swapped the office for shifts on trains on strike days between Dec 19 and Jan 3.

An additional £500 per day was paid to employees serving as a “safety critical contingency manager”, according to a leaked schedule – equal to £50 an hour for a 10-hour shift.

Workers fulfilling the role of “customer service contingency manager” – deemed non-safety critical – were given £300 per shift. Although the Government insisted it was up to train operators to make decisions on employee compensation, sources said that the payments were signed off by the Department for Transport and that some staff did as many as 13 safety critical shifts – meaning £6,500 in extra pay.

It comes as train companies rip up an 8pc pay rise offered to drivers and restart negotiations from scratch. The Rail Industry Recovery Group, a body of operators backed by the Government, will open talks with drivers’ union Aslef this afternoon.

Talks will begin with a clean slate, sources said, while the fresh start also allows operators and the Government to abandon demands that on-board guards are axed as part of any deal.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union continues to weigh a “best and final” 9pc rise offered by both train operators and Network Rail, the state-backed owner of tracks, points and stations.