TALKS planned for the second day of a three-day strike broke down without agreement yesterday.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) sat down with Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) once again to talk about conductor roles on Southern trains but, twice in the space of a week, neither side could reach agreement ahead of today’s final strike day.

But meanwhile there was fresh hope among MPs who had been hoping to speak to an independent, Government-appointed rail expert tasked with sorting out Sussex’s crippled network.

Hove’s member of Parliament, Peter Kyle, and Sir Nicholas Soames of Mid Sussex jointly chaired a meeting with Chris Gibb, who told politicians about his early judgements of the underperforming network.

At the meeting, attended by rail minister Paul Maynard among others, Mr Gibb discussed the hurdles that lay ahead and what had to happen to overcome them to restore a reliable service.

Mr Kyle told The Argus: “It feels like we’ve reached the start line; now we have to start the race to improve our service. I’ll carry on doing everything I can to restore order to our rail services before more damage is done to our economy and family life.”

In a joint statement the two Sussex MPs added: “Based on today’s meeting it is clear Chris Gibb is highly informed and keen to get out into the front line with network staff and passengers.

“We found this impressive and will stay in close touch with him to ensure that no stone is left unturned in the bid to transform our rail service, and that every sensible measure brought forward by Mr Gibb in his work is acted upon without delay.

“This is what passengers rightly expect.”

However, the current dispute over conductor roles on Southern is one hurdle neither GTR nor the RMT are closer to crossing together.

After telling staff to accept jobs as onboard supervisors – which it claims compromise passenger safety because they do not control train doors – the RMT vowed to go on challenging the role change with a programme of strikes through until December. It warned that more could follow into 2017.

On yesterday’s breakdown in talks, Charles Horton, chief executive of GTR, said: “I cleared my diary to listen to what the RMT had to say.

“I made it crystal clear, once again, that we are moving forward implementing our proposals and any agreement had to be on the basis of these principles. In the space of a week, we’ve now met twice for face-to-face talks to try and reach agreement but, incredibly, they have absolutely nothing new to say - today, last week, last month - which helps us move forward.

“They raise everyone’s hopes by stating they want to end the dispute but then dash them by their continued head-in-the-sand position.”

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash claimed Mr Horton was refusing to stick to assurances over “a second member of staff on all current Southern services with a conductor”.

Mr Cash said: “This dispute isn’t about who opens and closes the doors.

“It is about that absolute guarantee of a second safety-competent member of staff on these Southern services.”