BRISTOL PROTESTS AGAINST RAIL CUTS’

RMTnews :: january 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 4 Bristol on the march: Andy Robertson (Bristol Trades Council); Councillor Helen Holland (Bristol City Council, Labour Group Leader); Nigel Costley (TUC SW Regional Secretary); Pat Sikorski (RMT AGS); Kerry McCarthy MP (Bristol East) joined protesters against rail cuts BRISTOL PROTESTS AGAINST RAIL CUTS AND OVERCROWDING SCANDAL AT FIRST GREAT WESTERN R MT has called on the government to end the scandal of hazardous overcrowding on train services run by First Great Western in Bristol, the west of England and south Wales by releasing ‘mothballed’ trains into service. Many train units are currently standing idle in "warm storage" in private railway sidings across the region while services are slashed due to the shortage of trains as FirstGroup struggle to meet the repayment terms of the franchise agreement. RMT general secretary Bob Crow called on Railways Minister Tom Harris to intervene as train service cancellations hit over 60 a day and other services are being replaced by buses since FGW introduced a new winter timetable last month. “While perfectly serviceable trains are sitting in sidings, long-suffering commuters are daily shoehorned into fewer and shorter trains and railway staff bear the brunt of the anger and frustration experienced by rail users. “Ultimately, the government should take the franchise back in-house and run it in the public sector,” he said. First Great Western introduced a new timetable on December 11, which significantly reduced the frequency and quantity of trains across the franchise. Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy has already put down early day motion 311 (right) on the crisis and over 40 MPs have signed up. PROTEST Campaigners recently marched on local government offices against the cuts, which equate to cutting around 2,000 seats on trains a day, and presented a protest letter to Tom Harris. RMT assistant general secretary Pat Sikorsky said that the government must tell FGW that these “crazy” cuts are unacceptable. "The Department of Transport is facing in two directions - on one side it is squeezing rail providers into giving more and more to the treasury and on the other it is saying it wants more people to travel by rail," he said. RMT regional secretary Alex Gordon pointed out that some Inter City 125 services will now be stopping at intermediate stations to counter the local services being withdrawn. "But these will be very limited and won't run at the times when most people want to travel and what will happen when these so- called ‘high speed trains’ are running late from London?" he said. FirstGroup was awarded the new franchise just over a year ago, paying the government around a £1 billion premium in return. Yet this month FirstGroup received a ‘yellow card’ warning that unless services improve it would lose the Greater Western franchise. Early Day Motion 311 FIRST GREAT WESTERN TRAIN SERVICE REDUCTIONS IN BRISTOL AND WEST OF ENGLAND “That this House notes with concern that from December 11 2006 users of First Great Western train services in the Bristol and West of England area will suffer the loss of their early morning train service from Cardiff to Bristol, early morning services and late evening services between Bristol and Gloucester, irregular intervals between trains from Bristol to Weston-super-Mare and Taunton, reduced capacity on short platform stations to Weston, such as Worle, loss of connectivity on trains to and from London and extensive reductions in train services to local stations in the Bristol area; further notes that First Great Western plans to reduce the amount of rolling stock used on train services in the Bristol area, including cutting Cardiff-Portsmouth trains from three to two coaches, an overall reduction of 1,839 seats, equating to a 20 per cent, cut in train seat availability, and a reduction in the number of trains from 69 to 57, equating to an 18 per cent. cut in trains; calls on the Government to urge First Great Western urgently to reconsider the reductions in levels of rolling stock on these key services, the consequences for overcrowding and forcing passengers onto the already heavily congested road network, with all the outcomes for increased carbon emissions, pollution and road traffic accidents that these train service cuts will lead to; and further calls on the Government to ensure that capacity and train service frequency in the Bristol and West of England area are maintained and improved”.