Talks are to be held and a contingency plan drawn up in a bid to avert the biggest rail strike in more than three decades.

Railway workers will strike for three days later this month threatening travel chaos for commuters and those heading to major events including the Glastonbury festival.

The RMT union said that up to 50,000 of its members across Network Rail, 13 train operators and on London Underground would walk out on 21 June in the “biggest outbreak of industrial action in the UK since 1989”.

The disputes are over jobs, pay and pensions with the union complaining that railway staff, who worked throughout the pandemic, are facing job cuts, a pay freeze and an attack on employment conditions.

Talks between Network Rail (NR) and the union are expected to be held in the next few days, sources told the PA news agency.

NR is also drawing up contingency plans, with the strikes expected to cause disruption to services for six days, from the first walkout on Tuesday 21 June to the day after the third strike.

Fewer than one in five trains are likely to run, and only between 7am and 7pm, probably only on main lines.

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