RAIL passengers in South Devon face delays and replacement buses as train staff take strike action.

South Western Railway services are being hit as members of the RMT union take action over the future of guards on the company’s trains.

Months of negotiations have preceded the strike days with both sides saying they are ‘frustrated’.

SWR runs services between London Waterloo and Exeter.

Rail replacement bus services will be run from Exeter St David’s station on the remaining strike days.

South Western Railway says there will be disruption and reduced service across the network but that it is putting together plans to run as full a timetable as possible on strike days.

Great Western Railway trains will accept SWR tickets during the strike action.

There will be further strikes on August 4, 11, 18, and 31 and on September 1.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: ‘RMT members in the two separate disputes on Eurostar and South Western Railway are standing rock solid this morning as they put the issue of public safety right at the top of the agenda.

‘RMT Eurostar members have had enough of the company ignoring the dangerous overcrowding and appalling working conditions at St Pancras and our SWR members are continuing the fight to put public safety before private profit.

‘That is the common thread that unites both these disputes.

‘RMT is available for genuine talks in both the Eurostar and the South Western Railway disputes and it is down to the companies involved to get their heads out of the sand and get serious.’

The RMT union says it is ‘angry and frustrated’ and South Western Railway says the action is ‘frustrating and disappointing’.