Three days of national rail strikes look set to take place next week after a new pay package was rejected by union members. 

Workers plan to walkout for 24 hours from 5pm on Thursday (June 4) followed by a 48-hour strike from 5pm on June 9. 

The RMT union has refused to rule out more strikes with general secretary Mike Cash saying there is "no option but to move to a rolling programme of industrial action".

In addition to the two planned walk-outs, the first national rail strikes in more than 20 years, 92 per cent of members also voted for action short of a strike, so there will be a ban on overtime, extended shifts and call-outs from June 6 to midnight on June 12. 

A crippling 24-hour strike planned for 5pm on Spring Bank Holiday Monday was suspended after National Rail made a new pay offer.

The original offer included a £500 lump sum payment this year, followed by three years of pay increases in line with inflation and no compulsory redundancies until December 2016.  

Now, union members have voted by 80 per cent for strike action, with a 60 per cent turn out, after an improved deal was rejected yesterday (May 28). 

The RMT said the proposals fell short of what is required to maintain the living standards and working conditions for its 16,000 staff, adding a better pay settlement is "entirely affordable".  

Mr Cash, said: "Our representatives have today rejected the pay package offered by Network Rail and in the absence of any further movement from the company that has left us with no option but to move to a rolling programme of industrial action which will begin next Thursday.

"We have a massive mandate for action which shows the anger of safety-critical staff across the rail network at attacks on their standards of living, and the blunt truth is that this dispute could be settled for a fraction of the money being handed out in senior manager bonuses and to the train operators for not running services.

"We expect rock solid support for this action and will be taking a new campaign to the public under the banner 'OUR JOBS - YOUR SAFETY' as we build support for the fight to stop this attack on a workforce ‎whose core role is to deliver a safe railway to the British people." 

Before the Bank Holiday strike was called off, Abellio Greater Anglia, which runs services between Chingford and Liverpool St, had cancelled all services. 

A Transport for London spokeswoman said: "Some of our services will be affected as they rely on Network Rail power supply.

"We are awaiting full details from Network Rail so our operations team can work out what services will be affected." 

The RMT said it remains open to fresh talks with Network Rail.