RAIL passengers travelling from Weymouth will be facing double disruption this month due to engineering works at Bath and strike action.

First Great Western workers are set to strike across the Bank Holiday weekend in a row over jobs, services and safety concerns.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said they are concerns about a number of factors surrounding the introduction of the new fleet of Hitachi inter-city trains.

There will be a 24 hour strike on Sunday August 23, followed by a 72 hour strike between Saturday, August 29 and 11.59pm on Monday, August 31.

The RMT union says it is concerned about a lack of assurances about job protection, concerns about the dilution of the role of the guard on trains and said they feel they have ‘no option’ but to take further strike action.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: “Despite strenuous efforts by our negotiators we have not been able to secure the kind of progress required in the key areas of jobs, services and safety for us to reach an agreement.

“As a result we have no option but to put further action on. The fact remains that if it is good enough for East Coast, using the same trains, to meet the very basic assurances sought by this trade union then it is good enough for First Great Western as well."

He added: “RMT remains available for talks.”

Last month First Great Western announced that modernisation work on the Great Western Main Line in the Bath area will mean that trains between Weymouth and Bristol and Weymouth and Bath will be disrupted and passengers will have to use replacement bus services.

Throughout this month, passengers travelling on the line will have to change at Frome, Westbury and Castle Cary depending on the week and which train they are on, and take replacement buses.

Disruptions to the services vary week-by-week so people are asked to check the First Great Western website for details.

The work is part of a £7.5billion modernisation works including track electrification, station modernisation and introduction of high speed trains.