A MAJOR FAILURE on the overhead lines on a section of the West Coast Main Line at Hemel Hempstead yesterday has fuelled rail union RMT's fears about repeated chaos on the network as maintenance staff job cuts begin to bite.
RMT have pointed out that yesterdays failure, which caused chaos overnight on both Virgin and London Midland with the latter still running an emergency timetable today, exposes the dangers in the cash-driven Network Rail maintenance cuts which have put nearly 1500 permanent jobs at rsik.
RMT reps have reported that only six maintenance staff were on duty at depots at Stonebridge Park and Bletchley covering over 70 miles of busy track on a vital section of the West Coast route used by both intercity and commuter trains.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:
"Despite a £9 billion upgrade, yesterday's line failures show that there are still major problems on the West Coast and yet Network Rail are targeting nearly half of their proposed job cuts at the route. That exposes the nonsense of Network Rail's whole cash-driven cuts policy that we have warned will cause exactly this kind of chaos on a regular basis.
"The botched West Coast upgrade has left sections of old cable spliced into new and that is a recipe for exactly the kind of failure we saw at Hemel Hempstead yesterday and is also concrete evidence that the maintenance job cuts plans are a disaster waiting to happen.
"We are calling again for the Government to haul Network Rail back from the brink before lasting, and potentially lethal, damage is unleashed on our railways."
1 comment:
All these cuts must raise fears for safety, another Potter's Bar or Hatfeild!
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