THE taxpayer is forking out tens of millions of pounds to keep greedy train operators’ profits afloat while rail workers strike to defend public safety, Britain’s biggest rail union has revealed.

Research from the RMT union has shown that South Western Railway (SWR) is set to receive at least £32 million in a bailout from the government.

This gift is due to losses incurred amid strike action. It means that the government is keeping the company profitable even if it is not running trains on strike days.

The latest financial report of First Group, the company which co-owns SWR, says that “progress has been made” in the financial “amelioration” of the company after a wave of strikes and industrial action by RMT members over train guard jobs.

It said that profits lost were recoverable from the Department for Transport (DfT) and said that the department was in discussion with the company about further “potential commercial and contractual remedies.”

But Transport Minister Grant Shapps has refused to answer parliamentary questions over what the final bill for the taxpayer will be.

In response to a question tabled last month by Labour MP Kate Hoey he said that the issue is “subject to commercial confidentiality.”

The union has warned that SWR’s arrangement with the DfT means that the company has no real incentive to bargain with the union and bring the dispute to a close.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “Passengers will be outraged to know that SWR will be paid by ministers even when they don’t run trains on strike days.

“Despite repeated ministerial cover-ups rail bosses are now openly bragging that they will be receiving a taxpayer-funded strike bailout, which we estimate to be £32m to date or the equivalent of a 3.4 per cent annual fare cut for SWR passengers.

“Thanks to the generosity of the government, SWR doesn’t lose a penny from strikes and therefore has little incentive to negotiate seriously.”

Rail guards on SWR will be striking from tomorrow until Monday.