THIS year our union comes to Congress fighting for the future of our railways and it is a battle we simply must win.  

Our national rail dispute is now several months long and I can tell you our brilliant members remain as resolutely determined as they were on day one. That is a message this shambolic Tory government and the rail companies must start to digest.  

We are not going away, that’s for sure. After all we are fight not only for a fair pay deal now for our members who are caught in the teeth of an escalating cost-of-living crisis which has seen inflation run out of control, but to protect their jobs and working conditions in the long term. 

The fact is this industrial action — the biggest walkouts on the railways in a generation — has come about needlessly. It was sparked by the mindless strategy of the Johnson government in deciding to cut around £2 billion from our rail network at the tail end of the pandemic.  

In other words, at the very time when rail should have been front and centre in our recovery from the terrible impact of Covid, those running our country chose to sideline our industry.  

For a responsible government — and let’s be honest Liz Truss does not preside over any such thing — there’s really no alternative to a strong, fully functioning rail network. 

Our railways, including High Speed 2 (HS2), are the only clean, green efficient way of moving people and goods around our country on a daily basis, with each freight train removing more than 75 lorries from our roads. The alternative is to fall back on still more cars and more roads. That would be a mistake of monumental proportions. 

So while we stand on picket lines to defend our members, who were heroes on the front line of the pandemic, we do so for the benefit of all. 

We know strikes cause disruption for the public, but I must stress that our union does not strike lightly and would gladly see a solution to this dispute.  

When might that come? Well, this is not something in our gift. Despite our best efforts there have been no official talks with train operators or umbrella group the Rail Delivery Group since July this year.

We will always be prepared to take part in serious negotiations. We celebrated our 125th birthday earlier this year and I can tell you that is the way we have always operated as a union, and always will. 

It is up to Network Rail and the train companies to get to grips with the situation. That’s far from the full picture of course — train companies are under the control of the Department for Transport, so in reality it’s ministers who hold the key. 

That is why it was good to detect a shift in tone recently from the new Transport Secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, when she said it is possible to find what she called a “landing zone”, via negotiation. 

Franky that is a far cry from the obstinacy of her predecessor, Grant Shapps, but as yet we have only words, no firm plans which might move the dial.   

The Tories well know the strength of feeling among our members, and those at sibling rail unions. At the beginning of this month we took part in strike action which amounted to the biggest walkout on our railways in years, the entire rail network was at a virtual standstill.  

The weekend after that our members at Great Western Railway — just a few hundred of them — brought the network to a halt, showing just how strong our industrial muscle is. This comes after a long and now highly successful campaign of recruiting and organising in control staff.  

Clearly we want a negotiated settlement but will only accept a deal that is truly works for our members who are the backbone of this country.  

Trevelyan and her ministerial mates would do well to take heed, drop their previous demands for unilateral imposition of changes on our railway, and instead embark on discussions with us about the future of our industry.  

The ball is in their court. 

Manuel Cortes is general secretary of TSSA.