Unions have called off industrial action over pay and staffing that has brought chaos to Southern rail after the transport secretary agreed to further talks. Aslef, the train drivers’ union, said that it was suspending an overtime ban and has called off a strike next month. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which has staged more than a month of strikes over the past year, has suspended its own walkout. RMT leaders said that they had been invited to talks with Chris Grayling, subject to the suspension of planned action. It raises the prospect of an end to more than a year of disruption on the network between London and the south coast, with about a quarter of trains, which carry 300,000 commuters a day,…

Source: The Times July 19, 2017 23:48 UTC