The long-running industrial action at Northern Rail, which has included 47 days of strikes over the past two years, has been called off.
The RMT union said it had suspended further action after being guaranteed a conductor on all trains for the rest of the franchise, running until 2025, from the operating company Arriva Rail North with the backing of the Department for Transport.
The breakthrough will come as a relief to Northern’s passengers, whose train services have been cut most Saturdays since last summer by strikes. Two more strikes were due on 9 and 16 February, with further dates expected to be announced. However, Northern said the decision had come too late to revert to normal service this Saturday, and there would still be disruption with services stopping by 5pm.
The union said there had been substantial progress in talks via the conciliation service Acas in the long row over the future role and responsibilities of guards on trains. The dispute, which led to waves of strike action on Southern in 2016, has also affected the South Western and Greater Anglia franchises.
Train operating companies have committed in franchises written by the DfT to introduce driver-controlled trains, so the backing of the government – believed to involve some additional financial support to Arriva, which receives the biggest subsidy – is likely to be pivotal in ending the action.
Talks will continue to discuss the exact role of the second staff member on every train.
David Brown, the managing director of Northern, welcomed the decision and said: “We have been very clear in these discussions that there will be a conductor on all our trains now and into the future. We are looking forward to further positive talks with RMT about operational models so that we can resolve their dispute and bring it to an end.”
The RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, paid tribute to the “resilience and determination” of union members, and thanked the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and the Liverpool city region mayor, Steve Rotheram, for helping break the deadlock. He added: “I also want to thank the travelling public for their extraordinary support.”
