East Midlands Railways services could be disrupted across numerous weekends in August as workers set to strike over train safety concerns.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has announced 24-hour strike action on three consecutive Saturdays: 1, 8 and 15 August.

East Midlands Railways (EMR) is advising its customers only to travel if their journey is essential and to check journey statuses before travelling.

On strike days, EMR will be operating a significantly reduced timetable between 7am and 7pm on its Intercity and Connect routes.

There is likely to only be one train per hour between London St Pancras and destinations such as Nottingham, Sheffield and Corby.

Regional services are unlikely to be affected by the strike action and will operate as normal.

In addition to the strike action, the RMT has also notified the train company that members will be taking “action short of strike” from Sunday 2 to Friday 7 August (inclusive), Sunday 9 to Friday 14 August (inclusive) and from Sunday 16 August until further notice.

This usually means that workers will carry on working, but may limit some of their duties. EMR says trains may be subject to short-notice alterations or cancellations.

RMT says the strike action is taking place after the train company refused to withdraw faulty trains and the collapse of talks.

The union’s dispute centres around the roll-out of the Class 810 Aurora fleet, built by Hitachi, which it argues has been operating with a significant number of dangerous faults.

“EMR has been sending trains into service that are likely to fail and require a full reset which leaves the train with no active safety systems including loss of communication between train drivers, dispatchers, and trackside which has occurred at least three times in the last week alone,” the union said.

“Despite numerous attempts to resolve the dispute through talks, EMR will not remove the 810s from service therefore the strikes will go ahead, and we remain available for further talks,” RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said.

The operator previously announced a temporary reduction of its Intercity timetable due to service reliability and maintenance issues with the 810 fleet that “significantly impacted upon EMR’s ability to run a consistent service”.

As a result, hundreds of services were cancelled on the Midland mainline, including around 20 fast trains a day connecting London, Sheffield and Nottingham.

On Monday, EMR’s managing director, Will Rogers, stepped down from his role amid the ongoing problems.

Regarding the strikes, Philippa Cresswell, customer experience director at EMR, said: "We're sorry to customers whose journeys will be affected by this industrial action.

“EMR continues to engage in constructive discussions with the RMT in the hope of resolving this dispute as quickly as possible.”

Ms Cresswell continued: "The dispute relates to concerns raised about the introduction of our new Class 810 Aurora fleet. Any suggestion that the trains do not meet the required safety standards is incorrect.

“The Class 810 fleet entered passenger service only after successfully completing all required testing and meeting the rigorous safety standards required by the independent regulator."

Read more: London Gatwick becomes first UK airport to offer robotic parking. Here’s how it works

Read More