THOUSANDS of soldiers could be drafted in to drive rail replacement buses during the strikes.

The Government is looking to overcome disruption caused by ongoing industrial action on Southern Railway.

The past eight months have seen multiple strikes by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) over changes to the role of its conductors while, more recently, Aslef members who drive trains for Southern have also been striking.

Now Conservative MPs have been lobbying ministers over bringing in up to 4,000 soldiers to negate any future strike action.

The move would be similar to the Army's "green goddess" fire engines that were used instead of standard appliances during a firefighters' strike in 2002.

Maria Caulfield, the MP for Lewes, first raised the issue of using the Army earlier this month with rail minister Paul Maynard.

But her office told The Argus yesterday that the idea had been knocked back.

Mrs Caulfield said: "It is unacceptable that almost 70,000 people in my constituency will be stranded because of industrial action, thousands of people put at risk of losing their jobs and local businesses put in danger of going under because of this.

She believes that if Southern cannot resolve its dispute it should put on buses across the entire network, and that if Southern cannot do it then the Government should.

Mrs Caulfield added: “It is ultimately their contract and if the Government need to call in the Army to get people where they need to go then that’s what they should do."

Mike Penning, the defence minister, revealed that more than 4,000 military personnel were trained to drive buses or coaches and Prime Minister Theresa May was reported to be in "listening mode".

Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, responded, saying: "Instead of resorting to lash-up stunts for public relations purposes, Theresa May should be instructing her Southern rail contractors to get back around the table and sort out the issues about passenger safety at the heart of this dispute.

"If she's serious about getting a grip Mrs May needs to scrap that agenda of confrontation and give us an opportunity to engage in genuine and meaningful talks."

The Ministry of Defence said there were no plans to deploy military personnel in response to the latest round of rail strikes.

A Southern spokesman said: "The wholesale replacement of 2,242 daily services for 300,000 passengers is not realistic.

"However we’re looking at a number of options for what we can do for passengers if this damaging and wholly unjustified strike goes ahead."

Southern has advised passengers to expect a severely reduced and disrupted service over coming strike days.

The RMT is striking from New Year's Eve until Monday, January 2.

Aslef joins the RMT for further industrial action from Monday, January 9, to Saturday, January 14.

Southern and Gatwick Express services will be affected but Thameslink trains will continue to run.