FURTHER strike action could affect First Great Western services through Oxford if an agreement cannot be reached with the RMT Union.

In an open letter to customers yesterday, the train operator’s managing director Mark Hopwood said the company is meeting the union this week in a bid to settle the dispute.

But he said the company is training “more people in more tasks" to reduce the impact on services should another strike go ahead.

Train workers in the RMT union went on strike for 48 hours on Wednesday, July 8.

The union fears the planned introduction of new Hitachi Inter-City trains on the network will lead to staff redundancies and reduced roles for staff, including train managers and guards.

An RMT spokesman told the Oxford Mail train managers could be removed from their role in opening train doors and ensuring the safety of passengers, buffet cars could be removed and there may be threats to maintenance jobs.

He said: “We think there will be a very big impact on the quality of service to the public and the safety of the public as well.”

First Great Western denies there will be any job losses and says there will be more trains and a better services.

A company spokesman said: “This industrial action is about the new trains we are bringing into operation, the largest fleet upgrade on the Great Western for a generation, which will shave journey times by as much as 17 minutes, and provide the extra seating capacity we know our customers want to see.

“In order to be able to do this we need to operate these trains differently to the way we operate our current 40 year-old High Speed Trains.

"The best way to make the most of these new trains, in an efficient and safe way, is by the use of driver operation of the doors.”