Thursday 21 May 2015 10:35 am

Panic over (for now at least): National rail strike cancelled after RMT, TSSA suspend action; operators Virgin Trains, First Great Western, South West Trains, Southern, Southeastern CrossCountry respond

The RMT has withdrawn from the national rail strike which was scheduled for bank holiday Monday.

It follows a similar move by the smaller, sister union TSSA earlier today.

The main transport union has suspended the planned action, which would have put as much as 90 per cent of the country's trains out of action, following a revised offer from Network Rail.

An RMT spokesman told City A.M: “Following the Acas talks, RMT has received revised offer that enables us to suspend the planned industrial action while we consult in full with our Network Rail representatives."

He added that it was a the dispute remained live.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash told members: "Please work your shifts, overtime and all additional hours as normal next week."

Manuel Cortes, general secretary TSSA, added: "Our negotiating team at Acas has received a revised offer from Network Rail. As a result of this, they have suspended the planned industrial action, pending the outcome of a meeting of our workplace representatives next week."

It's not clear yet what this means for the services that have already been cancelled, although it seems likely that passengers hoping to travel over the bank holiday can breathe a little easier.

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne is clearly still in attack mode, dubbing the strike threat "deplorable".

He added: "This week we have been talking to ACAS to try to get the RMT back around the table. The public knows only too well that our railway must improve. We want to work with the unions so that we can reward our staff through improved productivity.

“The RMT say we can afford more than what’s on offer. What they don’t say is that Network Rail is a public service body and that all profits are reinvested in building a bigger, better, more reliable railway. Any pay increase comes from the pockets of taxpayers and fare paying passengers.

Virgin Trains has reinstated its service, although it is yet to comment on what it means for passengers who have already sought alternative routes:

https://twitter.com/VirginTrains/status/601390893711683585

https://twitter.com/VirginTrains/status/601391921248993280

First Great Western said it expected to "be able to run our full advertised timetable".

https://twitter.com/FGW/status/601388057221148672

South West Trains will run as planned:

https://twitter.com/SW_Trains/status/601389590218416128

As will Southern:

https://twitter.com/SouthernRailUK/status/601391087442341890

Southeastern will run as normal, apart from (somewhat ominously) engineering work…

https://twitter.com/Se_Railway/status/601386517844598784

Cross Country trains said services would run as normal.