Rail strikes are expected to cause the cancellation of about 80 per cent of train services across Britain on Tuesday.

Train passengers would face chaos with only a fifth of services running and half of the lines closed due to the biggest strike by rail workers for a generation.

Thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at Network Rail and 13 train operators would walk out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Those operators not involved in the industrial action would still suffer from disruption due to Network Rail signallers going on strike.

London underground workers would also walk out on Tuesday.

According to reports in the Guardian and BBC, only around 20 per cent of rail services will be running on Tuesday.

Train services were expected to be impacted on the days without planned strike action as well due to knock-on effects, with about 60 per cent of the normal services running.

Last-ditch talks failed to resolve the bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions, with all sides blaming each other for the lack of progress.

Britain would have no passenger trains for the entire day on Tuesday, including most of Scotland and , the whole of Cornwall and Dorset.

Also, places such as Chester, Hull, Lincoln and Worcester would be among the areas with no passenger trains.

Services would primarily be restricted to main lines, but even those would only be open between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. 

(dpa/NAN)