Commuters are set for yet more misery on Southern trains after guards on the network voted for another round of strike action.

Members of the RMT union will walk out for 48 hours at midnight on Wednesday, September 7, in the latest sortie in a long-running dispute with the company.

The union has been fighting the company’s decision to transfer certain responsibilities from train conductors to drivers. RMT bosses claim the changes will lead to job losses and put passengers' safety at risk.

Last week a five-day strike by RMT members was called off within 72 hours after the union and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which owns Southern, agreed to re-open negotiations with intermediaries Acas.

RELATED: Southern train strike 'suspended' as RMT and Govia re-open negotiations

But today the RMT claimed the operator had "opted instead to bulldoze through the roll-out of the new operational arrangements... without any serious attempt to secure agreement".

Accusing both GTR and the Government of "arrogance and inaction", Mick Cash, the general secretary of the RMT, said latest strike had been "forced" on its members.

He added: "Our fight is with the company and the Government who have dragged this franchise into total meltdown. We share the anger and frustration of passengers and we cannot sit back while jobs and safety are compromised on these dangerously overcrowded trains."

Southern has faced mounting public criticism from passengers and politicians because of frequent delays and cancellations, prompting calls for the struggling network to be taken into public ownership.

Earlier this summer GTR scrapped 341 scheduled Southern services from weekday timetable in a bid to rectify its poor performance.

Alex Foulds, Southern’s passenger service director, said: “Passengers and staff will once again be appalled by the RMT’s decision to hold yet another strike. We are moving forward with our plans for the benefit of customers after nine months of fruitless attempts to reach an agreement.

“This action is unnecessary, unjustified and futile – we have guaranteed all our onboard staff a job until the end of the franchise, as valued members of our future operation, with no reduction in salary.

“And claims that safety is at risk are just untrue. The independent rail safety body has said so, and nearly half our trains run without conductors already.”

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