A TWENTY-FOUR hour strike on Arriva Rail North will go ahead after talks aimed at resolving a row over the role of guards collapsed.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will walk out on November 8 after their leaders accused the company of "going through the motions" in a meeting on Friday.

Strikes will also be held next week at Southern, Greater Anglia, Merseyrail and South Western Railway (SWR) in similar disputes.

Talks between the union and SWR also failed to break the deadlock on Thursday.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "The abject failure of Arriva Rail North bosses to take today's talks seriously means that the action next week goes ahead and the disruption that will be unleashed will be entirely down to the company's failure to engage with the union.

"RMT negotiators entered today's talks in good faith but it was soon clear Arriva were just going through the motions.

"This dispute is about public safety and the fact that Arriva can't or won't grasp that basic fact leaves us with no option but to strike next week.

"Passengers will understand that the key issue is about putting public safety before private profit and we thank them for their continuing support."

Richard Allan, Arriva Rail North's deputy managing director, said: "During talks on Friday we asked RMT to suspend their strike action to allow us to work together to shape the future on-board role, focusing on giving customers a better service.

"This was not accepted, so we continue to concentrate our efforts on running as many trains as possible for our customers during the next RMT strike."