By Phil Coleman

Last updated at 12:12, Thursday, 05 November 2009

Nearly 50 Carlisle-based rail workers are set to lose their jobs as part of a cost-cutting exercise that could spell disaster for the railways, union bosses said today.

Construction work taking place to allow heavy lifting equipment to get close to recover the derailed Virgin train at Grayrigg

Network Rail – the company responsible for maintaining the country’s railway lines – says that it will cut jobs in order to reduce costs.

But the RMT rail workers union says proposed cuts in maintenance staff on the West Coast Main Line in particular make a repeat of the Grayrigg rail disaster in Cumbria more likely than ever.

Craig Johnston, who represents Cumbrian rail workers on the RMT’s national executive committee, said senior Network Rail managers had privately spelled out where the axe is likely to fall.

In Carlisle, the biggest cut will be among track maintenance staff. Jobs are also likely to be axed among signalling staff and supervisors.

Network Rail refused to discuss details but did not challenge RMT predictions that around 1,500 jobs will go nationally, including 650 on the West Coast Main Line.

Mr Johnston said: “This could be a disaster for the railway network. The whole point of maintenance is to ensure the railway infrastructure is properly maintained and that inspections are done properly. The bottom line is that the Grayrigg report following that disaster highlighted unrealistic workloads and systemic management failures.

“There’s now a clear risk that the railway will not be maintained to the standard it is at the moment.

“We’re talking about the loss of 1,448 jobs across the whole rail network.

“They want to throw experienced rail maintenance workers out of their jobs and I just don’t believe that the railway will be safe if this goes ahead. Safety has to be paramount.

“You ignore maintenance at your peril: these cuts will make another Grayrigg more likely. Maintenance staff are already under significant pressure.”

Mr Johnston predicted a possible spate of industrial action across the railway in response to the plan. He said the union planned to campaign in Cumbria to garner public support for opposing the planned cuts.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “With the well-documented history of infrastructure problems and failures on the West Coast Main Line, it simply defies all logic that Network Rail could even be considering axing 650 maintenance jobs as part of their national cost reduction plan.

“We should remember that the Grayrigg disaster happened on this line and that reports into that incident fingered systemic problems with the maintenance regime. Under those circumstances alone it beggars belief that Network Rail could be even considering hundreds of maintenance job cuts.

“RMT is committed to fighting the national jobs cull across Network Rail and we will be drawing in political and public support across the country for what is an important battle for safety and reliability on the rail network.”

Network Rail defended its plans to cut costs.

A spokeswoman said: “We have a clear commitment to the British people to reduce the cost of running the railway, and as we become more efficient with an improving network, the way we do maintenance has to evolve.

“A common structure, new technology, higher standards and better knowledge of our assets will help to improve our service for passengers, providing a safe, efficient and reliable railway. We are continuing with our discussions on our plans with our people and their union representatives, and no final decisions have been made.”

She said the new high-frequency timetable on the West Coast Main Line required a different approach to the way the firm carried out maintenance on the line.

She added: “Performance on west coast by all operators is good and improving. The most recent performance figures show all operators running more than 90 per cent of trains on time with Virgin at 93.3 per cent, more than eight per cent up on this time last year. Our plans to restructure maintenance depots will enable us to direct resources to where they are needed and enable them to be more responsive.”

First published at 11:39, Thursday, 05 November 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk