Station staff will strike at 19 mainline stations in London and across Britain next week in a dispute over compulsory redundancies, unions said yesterday.

The TSSA and RMT unions said the action by around 330 managers, supervisors and other staff would cause "widespread disruption".

Network Rail said it was prepared for the dispute and that passengers would not be affected.

"We've got contingency plans in place," said a Network Rail spokesman. "We've got fully trained people who will be able to operate the stations so that the passengers won't notice any disruption."

The 24-hour strike will run from noon on June 26 and will hit stations including King's Cross, Euston and Liverpool Street in London, as well as Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley.

The unions said members were taking the action after Network Rail refused to guarantee there would be no compulsory redundancies in a reorganisation of station management.

Network Rail said it does not expect to make large numbers of compulsory redundancies but said it could not rule them out.