RMT halts unsafe rail work

Maintenance work on overhead power lines along the East Coast rail line and its branches was cancelled last month when key engineering staff refused to issue work licences on safety grounds.

Members of the RMT rail union at Network Rail’s Morpeth, Leeds, Doncaster, Hitchen and Heaton depots invoked “Worksafe” procedures and sought alternative duties after it emerged that managers with as little as six days’ training were attempting to do the work of skilled staff on strike from the York electrical control room.

“Our members were not satisfied that the control room was being operated safely, and invoked the company’s own procedures to ensure that they were not placed in danger,” explained RMT general secretary Bob Crow. He warned that any attempt to discipline the workers concerned would result in a ballot for strike action among all overhead-line employees.

The RMT has asked the Railways Inspectorate to investigate Network Rail for putting rail workers and passengers at unacceptable risk of electrocution.

Last month’s five-day strike at York was called by the RMT in protest at Network Rail’s plans to slash the number of operators there from 18 to 12, despite what the union calls “serious unresolved safety issues”.

“We need to see these proposals put on hold to allow for the consultation with reps that should have taken place from the start,” Crow said.