A rail strike planned for later this weekend has been called off following talks over a pay deal. 

The strike would have meant most routes on South West Trains would have had no service at all from 6pm on Thursday night with a significantly reduced service during the day and Thursday afternoon services were expected to be "extremely busy".

On Friday most routes would have no service at all. 

A further 48 hours of action were planned for 5pm on Tuesday June 9 to 4.59pm on Thursday June 11.

South West Trains had been advising customers to check before travelling and to complete their train journey as early as possible. 

An Acas spokesman said: "After four days of intensive talks, Acas has helped Network Rail, RMT, TSSA and Unite formulate a set of revised proposals that the trades unions will now take away to consider.

"Recognising this, the RMT has agreed to suspend the industrial action planned for this week and next."

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "Following extensive Acas talks throughout the weekend RMT has now received a revised offer that enables us to suspend the planned industrial action while we consult in full on the details of the revised package with our Network Rail representatives."

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne said: "I am very pleased that the industrial action has been suspended. With Acas's help, we have had very constructive talks with the unions over the weekend and I hope they will be able to agree this deal."

Last week the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union called off industrial action that would have seen no trains running for 24 hours, but this was called off after a revised pay offer was made by National Rail.