Essential role 
of guards


The RMT rail union highlighted the essential role of safety-critical guards as snow, ice and gales caused chaos on the railways last month. 


It accused transport secretary Chris Grayling of “rank hypocrisy” for thanking private train companies for their actions during the bad weather while saying nothing about the role of guards. 


The union says the companies are set to receive “a bail-out jackpot” from the public purse in compensation for any loss of income.


It instead highlighted the actions of the guard who put in a 22-hour shift, calming and dealing with “the appalling situation” on a train stuck overnight in the New Forest, and the guard who evacuated a train that ran into a snow drift in Cumbria.