Southern rail commuters have been dealt a fresh blow after the RMT union announced its conductor members will strike for 24 hours from Wednesday 22 February.

The walkout will come after peace talks between the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) run franchise and union officials "prematurely" broke down at meditation service Acas in London on Tuesday evening (14 February).

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"The abject failure by Southern rail in yesterday's talks to take the safety issues seriously has left us with no option but to confirm further action," said Mick Cash, the general secretary of the RMT.

"These disputes could have been settled if Southern/GTR had listened to our case and given the guarantee of a second-safety critical member of staff on their trains."

A spokesperson for Southern told IBTimes UK that the company will be able to run around 70% of its normal services when the industrial action hits.

Nick Brown, chief operating officer of GTR, added: "We are disappointed that the RMT is going to heap yet further misery and disruption on the travelling public. We aim to run as full a service as we can."

The RMT and Southern held talks after drivers' union Aslef made a breakthrough agreement with the company at the Trades Union Congress over the driver only operations (DOO) dispute.

The details of the deal have not yet been made public, but Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, told IBTimes UK that the agreement would improve safety on the franchise.

"We believe what we have done has made it safer," he said. "Not having the guarantee of a second person on the train in 21st-century Britain – I don't believe that late at night, early in the morning, lone working meets the needs of the travelling public."