Train passengers have been warned to avoid travelling on certain days next month due to planned strike action.

Railway workers are to resume strikes in long-running disputes over pay, jobs and conditions which will likely cause widespread disruption to services.

Members of the drivers union Aslef said workers will walk out on October 1 and 5, and The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said its members at Network Rail and 14 train operators will strike on October 1.

The RMT said the October 1 stoppage will bring the railway to an effective standstill, adding it had received no further offers from the rail industry to help come to a negotiated settlement.

Aslef warned it was in for the “long haul” as the rail disputes remain deadlocked.

Greater Anglia has said it hopes to avert strike action and come to an agreement with the unions.

On strike days, the regional operator advised services will be severely reduced and disrupted and that it is likely that most routes won't have trains or bus replacements for them.

Disruption could continue the following day affecting services in the morning but should return to normal by the afternoon.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: “We would much rather not be in this position. We don’t want to go on strike – withdrawing your labour, although a fundamental human right, is always a last resort for this trade union – but the train companies have been determined to force our hand.

“The companies with whom we are in dispute have not offered us a penny. It is outrageous that they expect us to put up with a real-terms pay cut for a third year in a row."

A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said: “These strikes will once again hugely inconvenience the very passengers the industry needs to support its recovery from the ongoing impact of the pandemic.

“The strikes are not in the long-term interests of rail workers or building a sustainable rail industry. We want to give our people a pay rise, but without the reforms we are proposing, we simply cannot deliver pay increases.

"Revenue is still around 80% of pre-pandemic levels, no business can survive that scale of upheaval without implementing change."