Adelaide trains back in action

Adelaide's trains have returned to normal after drivers attended a three-hour stopwork meeting on Wednesday in an ongoing industrial dispute.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union is negotiating a new enterprise agreement with the state government with a sticking point centred on a no forced redundancies clause the government would like removed.

A pay increase is also an issue with the government offering a yearly 2.5 per cent rise and the union asking for three per cent.

The union says drivers, controllers, station staff and ticket inspectors deserve better wages and conditions after going more than two years without a pay rise.

Transport Minister Stephen Mullighan says train commuters will get free travel on Thursday to compensate for any inconvenience caused by Wednesday's stopwork.

"Whenever there are disruptions to our train services, whether they are planned or not, it is always incredibly frustrating for our passengers," Mr Mullighan said.

The minister said the government was working hard to reach an agreement with the rail network employees to avoid further disruptions.

But the Liberal opposition criticised the government for paying drivers to attend the meeting with transport spokesman David Pisoni saying the industrial action had further damaged public confidence in the reliability of the system.

"The repeated strikes and faults plaguing Adelaide's rail network have resulted in a travelling public wary of relying on trains," Mr Pisoni said.