HUNDREDS of rail workers at three train-operating companies have voted for industrial action, TSSA has announced as the “summer of discontent” across the network gathers pace.

Staff at LNER and c2c, which operates Essex Thameside services, have backed strikes and action short of a strike, while Northern workers have endorsed action short of walkouts, the transport union confirmed on Wednesday.

Its members, who are also being balloted at Network Rail and other train companies, have already supported strikes at East Midlands Railway, CrossCountry and Avanti West Coast after years of deteriorating pay and working conditions.