GRAYRIGG SAFETY ADVICE NOT FULLY IMPLEMENTED

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2010 :: RMTnews 15 Six recommendations to improve rail safety following Grayrigg derailment in Cumbria in February 2007 have yet to be implemented according to a damning report for the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB). RMT called for an immediate halt to plans to axe up to 1,500 safety critical rail maintenance jobs following the report revealed that six out of ten of the safety recommendations on track inspection and repair, following the fatal derailment on the West Coast Mainline, have either not been implemented at all by Network Rail or have not been fully implemented to the satisfaction of the Office of Rail Regulation(ORR). The RAIB report into the Marks Tey derailment in Essex on June 12 2008 contains a specific section on the Grayrigg derailment on February 23 2007 in which one person died and 30 suffered serious injuries. The RAIB report says that the Office of Rail Regulation ”does not believe that sufficient work has been done” on four of the ten key track inspection and repair recommendations and on two of the recommendations “Network Rail has proposed not to implement” contrary to the view of the ORR that the recommendations remain valid. However a Network Rail spokesman said that the recommendations were not binding. RMT believes that the failure of Network Rail to either implement, or implement fully, the majority of the track inspection and repair recommendations arising from the Grayrigg disaster is tied in with the cuts drive and that the safety position will be undermined with lethal consequences if the maintenance job cuts are bulldozed through. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that it was a shocking indictment of Network Rail’s attitude to safety that, three years after the fatal derailment at Grayrigg, it has failed to either implement, or implement fully, the majority of the key track inspection and repair recommendations. “There is no doubt that the impact of the planned maintenance job losses will have lethal consequences and will create the perfect conditions for another Grayrigg or Potters Bar. “That is the message that we are taking to the public with the demand that the maintenance jobs massacre be halted immediately,” he said. GRAYRIGG SAFETY ADVICE NOT FULLY IMPLEMENTED RMT demands a halt to rail maintenance job cuts after six out of ten key track safety recommendations made following the Grayrigg derailment were either not implemented or partly implemented RAIB report into Marks Tey with Grayrigg references can be found here http://www.raib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/100114_R012010_MarksTey.pdf