Rail travellers warned of disruption ahead of weekend strikes

Liverpool train station during a previous strike Credit: Press Association

Rail travellers in the North West are being warned that planned strike action this weekend could disrupt their journeys.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union working for Merseyrail will stage 24-hour walk outs on Saturday, July 8 and Monday, July 10.

The union's members working on Northern services will strike for three days from midnight on Saturday.

Merseytravel, which operates the Merseyrail service, said it hopes to run trains every half hour from 7am to 7pm.

But it warned that services may not stop at all stations.

Northern said it's committed to keeping as many services as possible but also warned of disruption.

The strikes are the result of a long dispute between the RMT union and Merseyrail over plans to remove guards from trains - whilst rail operators say driver-only trains are the safest and most efficient way forward, unions say it'll impact on passenger safety.