Thousands of Sussex commuters face a stressful start to the working week because of a second 24-hour rail strike.

The dispute, which will see more industrial action on Monday, is over the train guards' safety role. It follows yesterday's first day of action which went ahead after last-minute peace talks broke down.

Chairwoman of the Brighton Line Commuters Shelly Atlas said: "It's an inconvenience and it's annoying that passengers should be put through this when there should be other ways of resolving it."

South Central, which runs services across Sussex, warned passengers to expect delays but said it would try to run as many peak-time services as possible.

According to the company, yesterday's expected upheaval was less chaotic than it had prepared for while the RMT said services were disrupted as expected.

A spokesman for the RMT said: "We've heard stories of trains using management as guards, hastily trained up during a 16-hour shift.

"We don't think this is a good idea in terms of safety because concentration levels are not at their best after 16 hours.

"As far as we're concerned, if a train does not have a proper guard it should not be running."

South Central managing director Charles Horton said: "We were able to run between 70 and 75 per cent of trains during the morning peak."

PC Bob Drake, of the British Transport Police in Brighton, said: "We did not have any calls at all about trouble on the trains yesterday morning, so there was definitely no disorder.

"I think a lot of people stayed at home because of the strikes because it was unusually quiet on Brighton station at 7am yesterday morning."

A South Central spokesman said they were able to run a few more services than expected, including those to Seaford, Bognor, Portsmouth and East Grinstead.

The RMT spokesman said the safety issue being discussed would cost the companies nothing to resolve.

The issue includes the guard's safety role during an accident, in particular if the train driver is incapacitated.

The RMT spokesman said: "It's no good the guard just looking after the passengers if the driver is out of action and there is a train coming the other way."

The third 24-hour walk-out will be on April 17.

Passengers are advised to check services by calling National Rail Inquiries on 08457 484950 or South Central on 0870 830600 or to check updates on the South Central web site www.southcentraltrains.co.uk