THERE was good news for rail passengers using services operated by Arriva Trains Northern (ATN) as two disputes were settled.

However, thousands of train crew members, including some who work for Virgin West Coast and Virgin Cross Country, are being balloted for industrial action over the safety role of train guards.

A year-long pay dispute involving ATN ticket and counter staff is finally over after the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) agreed to a deal which will see the basic pay of their ticket and counter staff members increase by four per cent.

The increase is backdated to September 2002 with a further rise planned for April.

Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) members who are employed on the same basis accepted the deal in a ballot last month.

In addition, the RMT executive said it had reluctantly told Arriva Trains Northern that it had accepted its offer of four per cent for conductor grades, and that long-running pay dispute was also over.

The union said that the Strategic Rail Authority had "bankrolled" the company through the dispute and had removed ATN's incentive to negotiate with the union.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "The

very idea of a government agency openly

backing an employer in an industrial dispute is disgraceful, but under the circumstances it

would be wrong to ask our members to suffer more financial hardship."

He said the problems of low pay had not gone away.

Arriva Trains Northern welcomed the decision by the station and retail staff in the TSSA, and the conductors in the RMT to accept the pay offer, and said it looked forward to working with staff to bring about more improvements for customers.

ATN services include routes between Settle, Appleby and Carlisle.

Meanwhile, more than 5,000 RMT train crew members throughout Britain, and including Virgin employees, are to be balloted for industrial action in defence of the safety role of guards. The union said the move followed the failure of Railway Safety Limited, and the train operating companies involved, to honour a commitment to restore the key role of the guard to the Operational Rule Book the railways' safety "bible". The ballot is due to end on March 6.

l From next Monday, First North Western will again be running its entire timetable of nearly 1,500 services throughout the North West and North Wales. The 29 services that had

remained cancelled since September 2002, are being restored following negotiation of a new rest-day working agreement with the drivers' trade union, ASLEF.

First North Western operates the Barrow to Manchester Airport service, the Lakes Line between Oxenholme and Windermere, and services from Barrow to Lancaster and Carlisle.