Union accuses Network Rail of ‘reckless’ maintenance cuts
The RMT has claimed that Network Rail’s ‘Modernising Maintenance’ programme and reductions in staffing were the real cause of major disruption at Manchester Piccadilly after 400m of overhead wires on the station throat had been damaged earlier this month. Services at Piccadilly had to be suspended after a wire had broken on the morning of 16 April, and did not return in full until 11.00 on the 19th, after engineers had worked day and night to repair the damage.
The government has refused to amend the Railways Bill to clarify the relative powers of the transport secretary and Great British Railways. The Commons Transport Committee had said that the proposed law should be changed to iron out ‘potential tension’ between the DfT and GBR.
Younger adults aged between 18 and 34 are putting themselves at risk when using level crossings, according to the results of a survey released by Network Rail today. Eight out of 10 of those who responded claimed to know what they are doing when they need to cross a line, but at the same time it appears that ignorance is bliss. Distraction is the greatest danger. This includes talking to companions (28 per cent), wearing headphones (26 per cent) and using a mobile (24 per cent).
Plans to reopen the former Midland Railway main line to Manchester have taken a step forward with the submission of the Peaks and Dales Line Feasibility Study to the Department for Transport.
Underground drivers who belong to the RMT walked out at 12.00, and Transport for London is warning of ‘severe delays’ on several of those lines which still have a service. The Mayor of London is calling for a ‘swift resolution’ to the dispute, which involves the introduction of a four-day working week.
A non-executive director of DfT Operator has been dismissed only days after he warned a Parliamentary group that the trains being ordered for HS2 will reduce the number of seats on the London to Manchester route. Chris Gibb, who has been at the DfT’s subsidiary company since 2020, was speaking on 13 April, when he told the All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group that the answer to this capacity problem would be a second fleet.
Transport for London is warning that Underground services will start to be reduced from mid-morning, as RMT drivers prepare to walk out for 24 hours from midday. A second 24-hour stoppage is planned from midday on Thursday, and more have been called in May and June. The dispute is about proposals to offer a four-day working week to Underground drivers, who would work longer over the four days but have three days off a week.