RAILWAY workers are determined to continue their long-running dispute with train company Arriva Trains Northern, a union leader has said, as hundreds of conductors began the latest in a series of 24-hour walkouts today.

Hundreds of conductors walked out at midnight, causing disruption to services across the North, including many through York.

The stoppage is the third in a wave of strikes held over the festive season in a dispute over pay.

RMT regional organiser Stan Herschell said: "There is a lot of determination among the conductors in this union and they are very solid.

"We are a democratic union and the members will tell me when they've had enough and that's certainly not the case now."

A spokeswoman for Arriva Trains Northern said a quarter of conductors were expected to work and 80 per cent of the firm's normal network was expected to be running.

Updated: 12:10 Tuesday, December 31, 2002