Southern Railway is taking legal action to try to stop a series of strikes from Tuesday, according to the union at the centre of the bitter dispute over the role of conductors.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said it had received a legal challenge, just hours before the start of a three-day walkout.

Union members on Southern are due to strike from one minute past midnight tomorrow, causing fresh travel misery for passengers.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "RMT can confirm the receipt of a formal legal challenge from Southern Rail in the guards safety dispute.

"It is appalling that rather than sitting down with us at Acas today to seek a resolution the company have chosen to run to the courts under the cloak of the anti-union laws.

"The union intends to continue with the planned action and is examining the details of the paperwork . We will issue a further statement in due course."

A Southern spokesman said: "On Friday they told their conductor members to accept a deal, and then tomorrow they plan to strike against it.

"It is a situation which will leave our passengers baffled, and in that context we are presently considering all possible options to stop the strike."

"We have written to the RMT about the validity of the dispute in light of recent developments. We await their response and will consider all possible options to stop the strike and that includes a legal challenge."

In a message to RMT members, Mr Cash said: "You may have heard of reports in the media this morning that GTR management are threatening legal action against your union to stop you and your colleagues from taking any further strike action over the current dispute. These are matters which your union is obviously dealing with and considering.

"Despite this and as I stated to you on Friday, the dispute is not over and the strike action due to start at 00.01 hours tomorrow morning is definitely on.

"I therefore urge you to continue preparing for this action, organise the picket lines and protests and continue to show your determination and solidarity in your fight for justice."

The RMT said earlier that Charles Horton, chief executive of Govia Thameslink Railway, which owns Southern, has been closely involved in discussions at the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) over the role of conductors.

The union said it had obtained a leaked briefing memo showing Mr Horton's links to the board, which it claimed proved the organisation was not independent.

Southern denied the claims and insisted the board was independent.

The RSSB said it did not recognise the document referred to by the RMT, adding that sections released by the union were not from a leaked briefing memo, but had been selectively taken from a publicly available research report.

A statement said: "In the background section of the report is says that 'The Department for Transport's rail Value for Money study (McNulty 2011) recommended that DOO(P)(driver-only operation) should become the default position for all services on the GB rail network' and does clearly mention safety.

"This study was commissioned by RSSB on behalf of the Rail Delivery Group to determine how DOO(P) could be implemented across the remaining 70% of the passenger network cost-effectively, without compromising current operational safety.

"Charles Horton is one of our non-executive directors but was not involved in the research project which has been quoted in the document published by the RMT.

"RSSB does not create or advocate any policies, but provides independent insight and guidance to the rail industry based on robust research and analysis, which can include economic analysis."

Paul Plummer, chief executive of The Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators and Network Rail, said: "The Rail Safety and Standards Board is an independent body and its valuable work and research has helped to ensure that Britain has Europe's safest railway.

"For more than 30 years thousands of trains have run safely every day across Britain with only the driver operating the doors. RSSB safety experts say that this is safe. The rail industry must modernise to deliver the better services passengers expect and deserve."