Credit: EDDIE (Flickr)

A strike on the Southern Railway has been called off as talks between the union and operator resume.

Workers from the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union began a five-day strike by walking out this Monday.

The reason for the strike was because of disagreements between the union and the train company over the role of conductors.

The walk-out which was supposed to continue till the end of the week, has been suspended, said the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas).

An Acas spokesperson said: “Southern and the RMT are returning to talks tomorrow under the auspices of Acas. Strike action has been suspended for Thursday and Friday.”

Southern said it hopes these talks will be “productive and bring this long-running dispute to an end”.

Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, said: “The National Executive Committee has had time to consider this matter and have acknowledged that some progress is being made.

“As the company have now agreed to meet with our union officials without the caveat of any preconditions the NEC has therefore instructed me to inform you and your colleagues that the strike action has now been suspended with immediate effect until further notice.”

Although the strike has been cancelled, due to the pre-planned timetable, the services on Thursday would still be affected.

By Friday, however, services should be back to normal, reverting back to the usual timetable before the strike.