The union said it had "reluctantly" accepted Arriva Trains Northern's offer of a four percent pay rise plus a 250 pounds lump sum payment.

Conductors had voted by a two-to-one majority last week to reject the deal and had been set to stage a series of seven one-day strikes late this month and in March in the long-running pay dispute.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said the backing of Arriva Trains Northern by Britain's Strategic Rail Authority, which oversees state spending on the railways and awards train franchises, had removed the company's incentive to negotiate meaningfully.

"The very idea of a government agency openly backing an employer in an industrial dispute is disgraceful, but under the circumstances it would be wrong to ask our members to suffer more financial hardship," Crow said in a statement.

The pay dispute has dragged on for 13 months and last year conductors called 25 days of stoppages that cost the group about 2.8 million pounds.

Arriva's shares closed up 4.65 percent at 280 pence on Friday. The stock has kept in line with the FTSE 250 MidCap Index (FTMC) over the past three months.