RAIL passengers are being warned to prepare for severe disruption over the next fortnight if two planned strikes by Network Rail goes ahead.

On Thursday, the Rail and Maritime Transprt Union said it was staging two strikes in a dispute over pay and conditions.

Talks are continuing to try and avert the action but if these fail the first will start at 5pm on Thursday for 24 hours while the second will start on June 9 lasting for 48 hours.

A strike was set to take place last bank holiday Monday but this was called off so hopes are high that an agreement can be reached again but First Great Western has said there will be severe disruption if it does go ahead.

In a statement, the company said: “As we know the last strike was cancelled and we remain hopeful that Network Rail and the RMT will be able to reach an agreement and avoid any disruption to our customers.

“We will be talking to Network Rail about the specific impact this may have on First Great Western services. But, should the action go ahead, it is likely to have a significant impact on our ability to run our trains.

“Any action is likely to have an significant impact both before, during and after the dates announced.”

Plans have yet to be revealed but prior to the previous called strike, FGW said services would be impacted both sides of the 24 hours.

The strike will have a national impact with trains across the country grinding to a standstill as signallers and engineers down tools.

Swindon Chamber of Commerce has slammed the move, saying it will have a huge effect on many of the regions smaller businesses.

Claire Prosser, the policy executive, said: “The Chamber of Commerce does not condone this strike action and we hope these strikes are called off.

“Many of our members are small and medium businesses that can’t afford to strike themselves so this action is ridiculous.

“Some have our members’ workforces can work around the strike due to technology but for ones that rely on the train service this problematic.

“Strikes like this are not good for business.”

Talks between Network Rail and the Union collapsed this week, with the RMT rejecting the offer of a 1 per cent pay rise this year and 1.4 per cent next year, with no compulsory redundancies for the duration of the agreement.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: "We have a massive mandate for action which shows the anger of safety-critical staff across the rail network at attacks on their standards of living and the blunt truth is that this dispute could be settled for a fraction of the money being handed out in senior manager bonuses and to the train operators for not running services. That is a ludicrous situation which should never have been allowed to have arisen.”