Commuters on South Western Railway today suffered a third day of strikes but were given hope of fresh talks that could break the deadlock.
The RMT’s industrial action, planned to last 27 days, has caused misery for hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Talks at conciliation service Acas collapsed without agreement last week.
In a letter to SWR today, RMT leader Mick Cash sought “your agreement to reopen talks around an operational framework that would allow for the (strike) action called for December to be suspended.”
He says a key issue is “dwell time” — how long passengers take to get on and off at intermediate stations.
SWR says one reason for wanting changes to guard duties, with the driver instead operating doors and seeing the train off, is a reduction in dwell time.
Mr Cash states if SWR was to add three or four seconds to dwell time at each station it would be a “small price to pay to guarantee the safety and accessibility for all which is the issue at the heart of the dispute.”
Before the offer was made, SWR said it was “open to talks if the RMT is ready to work with us to improve our service”.
