RAIL passengers were braced for fresh travel chaos last night with Arriva conductors almost certain to go ahead with strike action over the Christmas holiday.

Officials from the Rail Maritime and Transport workers' union (RMT) are expected to meet during the next few days to ratify a series of proposed 24-hour strikes, including Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Arriva has yet to receive official confirmation from the union of the strikes on December 21, 23, 24 and 31.

But passengers have been warned to expect disruption during the busiest time of the year for the region's railways.

Last night, RMT regional organiser Stan Herschel said: "I would expect now that we will go ahead with these dates, which will be ratified by our executive by the end of the week.

"It is going to cause inconvenience to the travelling public, but from our point of view Arriva has shown no signs of sitting down with us and addressing this matter in a serious fashion.

"They have failed to grasp the nettle. My members feel they have a justified pay claim and are not going to walk away from this."

But Ray Price, managing director of Arriva Trains Northern, said that more than 180 of its conductors had indicated they would not take strike action.

He said: "We are very disappointed that the union has decided to hit what is undoubtedly one of the most important times in the year for so many people.

"We would like to reassure our customers that we will be working hard to deliver as many services as possible during any strikes by the RMT."

Conductors have held a series of strikes since the beginning of the year in pursuit of a pay claim which currently stands at nine per cent.

They have rejected a four per cent offer with 1.4 per cent on top from savings from productivity gains.

Last week, Arriva ticket office staff called off proposed strike action after the train operator offered them a new pay deal.