By Michael Holden
LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) - A strike by train drivers whichhas brought rail services in southern England to a standstilland caused chaos for hundreds of thousands of London commuterswill continue after talks on Thursday failed to end the dispute.
Drivers on the Southern Rail network will begin a 24-hourstoppage at midnight following two days of strikes earlier inthe week which caused Britain's worst rail disruption for twodecades.
"Passengers and businesses are being held to ransom by theunions' wholly unjustified and unnecessary industrial action,"said Nick Brown, Chief Operating Officer of Govia ThameslinkRailway (GTR).
The dispute between the drivers' union ASLEF and Southern,run by GTR, a joint venture owned by London-listed Go-Ahead and France's Keolis, centres on whose role it should beto open and close the train doors.
The union says it should be the job of a conductor, a secondonboard staff member, as a safety issue while the company saysdriver-only operated trains already run across the rail networkwithout any problems.
Southern said talks at the conciliation service Acas hadfailed because the union would not shift its position ofopposition to the company's modernisation plans.
"ASLEF claims drivers closing doors is inherently unsafe,"Brown said. "For 30 years trains have been running up and downthe country's railways this way and today over a third of thenational train network runs this way."
Commentators said this week's strikes would have the biggestimpact since action by signal workers in the mid-1990s and PrimeMinister Theresa May has called the strike "appalling"..
Her spokesman said on Thursday: "It is disappointing to seethat the talks have ended today without any resolution but wewould urge all parties to get around the negotiating table againand come up with a solution to end this."
A series of strikes on Southern this year has caused miseryfor commuters, some of whom say they have even lost their jobsbecause they could not get to work.
However, many blame the company for the problems and say thegovernment has done nothing to resolve the dispute.
Southern's parent company Go-Ahead said on Thursday itsfull-year expectations for its rail division were slightly belowprevious forecasts due to the repeated strike action on itsSouthern rail contract.
(Editing by Stephen Addison)