THE scenes witnessed this year, in London, of travel
chaos coursed by the Tube Strikes, have resulted in banner headlines around the world.
As we head into Brexit, strikes like this are, according to some business
leaders, extremely dangerous and can result in the loss of confidence from
international investors. Whether this is true or false, a real financial impact of the
strike, in London, has been felt and it has produced bad headlines, just at the
wrong time. Now, on
Merseyside, we are facing the real possibility of a strike as well, which could result in the
Merseyrail network being shut down. Just as in London, at stake are over jobs and new
trains, but also according to the Rail Union RMT,
the safety of the public is going to be at risk.
On Merseyside the latest announcement, by the RMT, follows on from
Merseyrail getting the "green light" to buy "state of the art
trains" to replace the current rolling stock, back in December 2016.
Merseyrail also said that as a result, the network?s guards would be removed from
operations on its services, due to the fact the new rolling stock will be driver only
operated units. When the idea of diver only units 1st came about, it lead to the RMT, back in
September
2015 issuing statements about them having:-
"grave concerns over the downgrading of passenger safety." They
also had huge concerns over the future job security of fleet maintenance workers
affected by the decision, so following on from December's headlines, it was on
the cards that the RMT would take action.
This latest RMT announcement comes soon after news headlines about a train
driver appearing in the Magistrates Court, accused of dragging a woman along a platform, when her
hand was stuck in a carriage door. That incident, took place
on 25 July 2016, at Hayes and Harlington Station. The case has since been
referred by Highbury Magistrates to Blackfriars Crown Court, with the trial date
set for sometime in February 2017. How this case will affect or not affect
things, both here and in London, are yet to be seen. But it has added weight to
the RMT?s arguments at this point in time.
We are told that on 11 January 2017, the RMT informed Merseyrail that it will be
in dispute, should they fail:- "to provide cast iron assurances around the
future of the safety critical role of the guards, on the network, by 26 January
2017." RMT general secretary, Mick Cash then told the media
that:- "The Union?s position on Driver
Only Operation is perfectly clear. We will not agree to any extensions of DOO
and will fight to retain the safety critical role of the guard and to keep a
guard on the train. RMT has asked Merseyrail on numerous occasions for
assurances that any new trains will have a second, safety critical crew member
on board and that the guard will be retained on all services. To date, the
company has failed to provide the Union with these assurances. If Scotrail,
which is run by Abellio, the same franchisee that operates Merseyrail, can
introduce new trains with guards, then so can Merseyrail. And if Stadler, which
is building the Merseyrail trains, can build conventionally operated trains for
the Greater Anglia franchise, which is also run by Abellio, then it can build
them for Merseyrail. I have written to Merseyrail and informed them that if we
haven?t received assurances over the safety critical role of the guard, by 26
January 2017, then we will be in dispute with the company."
If you would like to see what the new trains will look like and more information
about them, you can do so via clicking
here to see our report from November 2016. So what are your views on this issue? Are you affected by the
plans or do you feel like the RMT safety is at stake. Do you like what
Merseyrail and Liverpool City Region are planning? We want views from all sides,
so please email our newsroom to:-
News24@SouthportReporter.Com.
