signaller

“The driver can report it to the signaller and they have options to clean the rail,” he says.

Giving evidence, Captain Lewis Fox, of 16 Signal Regiment, confirmed that in December 2020 Mr Khalife was awarded the trophy, which was "rare" for a signaller.

After starting his Army career in Omagh, County Tyrone, he moved to England and worked for a time as a Morse code signaller.

A separate RMT dispute with Network Rail, which manages the UK's rail infrastructure, was resolved in March this year after signallers and maintenance workers voted to accept an offer.

A recording of the driver showed he queried with a signaller if any reduced speed was needed to return north.