A railway union has announced further strike plans which will affect the Weymouth-Waterloo line.

RMT has instructed its members at South Western Railway to walk out from 12.01 am on Friday, August 30 until 11.59pm on Monday, September 2.

The strikes have been called over a dispute between the company and the union regarding guard guarantees on trains.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: "Our members have been left with no choice but to call a further four days of strike action on South Western Railway. They are angry and frustrated that SWR have kicked talks into the long grass and failed to bolt down an agreement that will guarantee the role of the guard on the train. Our members believe that they are being mugged off by the company in protracted talks and I think they are right.

"The company continues to refuse to give assurances on the future operational role of the guard fuelling fears amongst our members of a stitch up. That situation has been compounded by an insistence that future operational models will be governed by the protection of company profits and not the safety of the travelling public.

"We have spent most of this year trying to negotiate a conclusion to this dispute.

"I want to congratulate our members on their continued resolve in their fight for safety and the role of the guard on SWR. It is wholly down to the management side that the core issue of the safety critical competencies and the role of the guard has not been agreed. This has left us with no option but to take further strike action."

The dispute between the two parties is about the role of guards in the rail service. The union is seeking assurances from the rail company that they will not move to Driver Controlled Operation, which it claims would jeopardise the role of guards.

A South Western Railway spokesperson said: “It’s extremely disappointing that despite having a date in the diary for what we hoped would be constructive talks held in good faith, the RMT union has somewhat cynically decided to call further disruptive strike action, inflicting misery on our customers and colleagues.

“We are struggling to comprehend what this endless strike action is really all about. The RMT seems intent on ploughing on full steam ahead with more strikes, showing little regard for our customers or the communities we serve.

“The RMT has always said it wanted us to keep the guard on every train which is what we have offered as part of a framework agreement. We want to move the conversation on to how we operate our new trains and take advantage of the new technology on board to benefit our customers. We remain committed to finding a solution that will help us build a better railway for everyone. We will do everything we can to keep customers moving during strike action.”

The railway company has not yet announced what services will run on the days of the strike.

To keep up to date with the services, visit southwesternrailway.com