RAIL strikes across the South West will cause massive reductions in services to and from Penzance and branch lines will be brought to a standstill after negotiations between unions and rail bosses broke down.

Cornwall will come to a near-standstill for 48 hours, from 6.30pm, after First Great Western failed to placate RMT leaders concerned over safety standards and job losses related to new Japanese trains being rolled out across the network.

First Great Western said it expects significant reductions in services from Thursday, July 9, until the morning of Saturday, July 11, with limited capacity and very busy trains, as well as late notice changes or possible cancellations on Saturday evening. They have also warned that seat reservations may not be honoured.

RMT claimed First Great Western had been playing for time in the talks, rather than addressing concerns addressed by other operators, including keeping a safety competent guard on every train, keeping safety critical station despatch staff, keeping buffet car facilities on every train, ensuring that maintenance of new rolling stock remains in-house and no job losses.

General secretary Mick Cash said: “RMT has made every effort to secure a series of very basic assurances from FGW over jobs, services and safety as a result of the introduction of the new Hitachi fleet and they have shown no intention of addressing those issues in the talks.”

“The ‘Worst Great Western’ tag has been wrapped around this outfit by their own passengers, and RMT will be building alliances with the service’s users to exert further pressure to end this outrageous profiteering and corner-cutting that will come at a heavy price in terms of jobs and safety.”

First Great Western managing director Mark Hopwood said the new trains will cut journey times by up to 17 minutes, provide extra seating capacity and the doors would be operated by drivers.

He said: “We are disappointed that our assurances over job security; the need for more, not fewer staff; and our commitment to maintaining existing pay and conditions for affected staff have not been heard.

“All of the issues raised by the RMT have been discussed with representatives and we believe we have made some progress.”

During the strike, First Great Western will be running one train every two hours between Penzance and Plymouth and the Night Riviera sleeper service will be cancelled on July 8 and 9, but operational on July 10.

Branch line services between between Looe and Liskeard, Newquay and Par, plus Falmouth and Truro will all be cancelled.

The company has asked holders of advance purchase tickets to travel as close as possible to their originally booked time, and those tickets will also be valid on the train immediately before or after the booked time, with full refunds for those who choose not to travel.