The RMT union has announced that 20,000 workers would stage three days of stoppages as part of strike action over pay.
The RMT said train operators had failed to make a new pay offer and that members working for 14 rail companies would, as a result, go on strike on 20, 22 and 29 July.
The RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said the new strikes, part of continued industrial action by the union, would “show the country just how important railway staff are to the running of the rail industry”.
“My team of negotiators and I are available 24/7 for talks with the train operating companies and government,” he said.
“Yet quite incredibly neither party has made any attempt whatsoever to arrange any meetings or put forward a decent offer that can help us reach a negotiated solution.
“The government continues to shackle the companies and will not allow them to put forward a package that can settle this dispute.”
