SOUTH West Trains will be putting on more services to help rail users further inconvenienced by the latest round of RMT strikes planned for next week.

The union had cancelled planned strikes on January 24 and 25 and has rescheduled them for January 28 and 29.

As well as running more than 500 train services on each of the days serving mainline and outer suburban stations, a fleet of more than 100 buses and coaches will provide integrated bus links to the major stations with a train service.

Passengers suffering from the disruptions have already benefited from the addition of an hourly bus service linking Alton, Farnham, Aldershot, Ash and Guildford ,which runs from 7 am until 7 pm.

South West Trains managing director Andrew Haines said: "We have been working very hard to provide our passengers with even more trains and buses than on our last strike days.

"Passengers may well have an overcrowded and lengthened journey, for which I am sorry, but we will be running a service to and from a large number of our stations."

The dispute between South West Trains and the RMT appears to be no closer to resolution despite talks with the arbitration service ACAS.

Acting General Secretary Vernon Hince claims that RMT's decision to reschedule the strikes was to allow more time for "meaningful negotiations".

"We have been calling for more talks since this dispute began and are still remain hopeful of reaching a resolution."

However, the point is strongly refuted by SWT Managing director Andrew Haines,

"When we have written to the RMT asking for more talks, they have not responded. Having been pressurised by staff, they worked out that one pay packet would be six days short and so cynically moved the strikes to the other side of the weekend."

Mr Hince says that the RMT has not ruled out arbitration

"We are adamant that any arbitration process must cover both our separate areas of dispute with South West Trains- pay conditions on the one hand, and the abuse of disciplinary procedures on the other."

Chris Campbell, chairman of the Alton Line Users Association, was "appalled by the news" of further strike action.

Mr Campbell also believes that the pay dispute and the issue of disciplinary procedures should be dealt with separately.

He stated that the general feeling among commuters was that the pay settlement (a 7.6 per cent increase) being offered to the RMT was a good one.

However the association would not be backing the passenger strike being proposed by the Better Rail Advisory Committee for March 1, citing that many rail users simply could not afford to take further time off work.

Instead he plans a peaceful protest by refusing to show his rail ticket.