Negotiations were due to resume on Monday between RMT and the railway chiefs, with the union’s national executive committee considering additional strike dates as the prime minister backed plans to close ticket offices.
Services began to return to normal after a later start on Sunday due to the last of three three-hour national strikes by workers at Network Rail and 13 companies operating trains on Saturday.
More departures may be required by the end of July. A RMT spokesman said the union would “evaluate and consider the next phase of the campaign”.
Speaking ahead of the G-7 summit in Germany, Boris Johnson said that to justify the money spent on the railways, including the £ 96 billion spent on the rail investment plan, “the traveling public and taxpayers will want to see reforms and improvements in the way the railways run ‘and there can be no’ business as usual ‘.
He told ITV News: “I can’t responsibly tell them that we will just keep working as usual, with the same old ticket systems that are almost never used, or we will sell one ticket every hour.
The Ministry of Transport rejected TUC’s allegations that the government had misled the public about its role in the dispute.
The legal opinion received from TUC by QC Michael Ford says that the Secretary of Transport has “very broad powers” over what can be agreed between railway operators and unions, and “very significant contractual powers” to guide how disputes are resolved. .
According to Ford’s legal opinion, the contractual provisions binding on the railway companies mean that they “are not free to negotiate the issues which gave rise to the present dispute”.
TUC Secretary General Francis O’Grady said: “We have always believed that conservative ministers have the power to pull the strings of train companies behind the scenes. And this legal opinion on railway contracts confirms it. “
A DfT spokesman said that did not mean that Grant Shaps should be involved in the negotiations, adding: “He is required to set limits on taxpayer support and ultimately sign any deal – not to participate in negotiating such – and his contracts with operators allowed him to do just that. ”
Johnson’s intervention is likely to inflame tensions between railway unions, employers and the Department of Transportation after the refusal to rule out mandatory redundancies resulting from a planned modernization of railway services, including the closure of ticket offices.
Based on his role as mayor of London as he struggled to close ticket offices at metro stations, Johnson added that the government was doing “pretty amazing things” on the railways, citing Crossrail and the integrated rail program.
“In order to justify the payment of this money, the undertaking of these commitments. “I think travelers and taxpayers will want to see reform and improvement in the way the railways run,” he said.
Shadow Foreign Minister David Lamy criticized the government for not negotiating, but also said he strongly disapproved of airline workers, who also voted to strike over wage demands.
Regarding the railway dispute, Lamy told the BBC: “This government is not negotiating. This government does not support a compromise. “
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However, when asked if he supported the claims of the British Airways registration and ground staff in Heathrow, who voted for a strike to recover the 10% pay cut, Lamy replied: “No, I do not. This is not. That’s definitely not the case. “
He criticized Labor MPs who joined the picket lines. One, Nadia Whitham, announced on Saturday that she would donate part of her salary to the local RMT strike fund.
The first results of the strikes in another railway union, TSSA, are expected later this week, potentially escalating the dispute and the consequences of any coordinated action. TSSA members include controllers and managers who acted as emergency personnel and backup personnel during RMT outputs. The union has initiated its first votes in train companies serving Birmingham, the city hosting the Commonwealth Games next month, as well as in Network Rail.
Meanwhile, Aslef drivers will go on strike over wages on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Croydon trams and next Saturday in Greater Anglia.
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