Transport Secretary Mark Harper says the UK does not have 'a proper seven-day railway' network.
Speaking on the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, Mr Harper said: "It is the reforms that free up the savings that then unlock the ability for the companies to make an offer to the trade unions on pay."I do not have a bottomless pit of taxpayers' money to throw at this problem."
Mr Harper said there had been "quite a lot of progress" in negations between the trade unions and train operating companies and Network Rail.RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "We have heard all of this before from other ministers.He called on him to give rail companies "mandates that enable them to make an offer that will create a settlement".
RMT says members working for train companies have been subject to "pay freezes, threats to jobs and attacks on their terms and conditions". Some 40,000 workers will walk out and there is likely to be disruption in the days around the strikes due to trains not being in the right places.
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