NO CUTS, NO PRIVATISATION

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: september 2017 :: RMTnews 16 Network Rail’s funding crisis, plans for ‘third party investors’ and its feast and famine approach to investment in the industry will have disastrous effects including job losses, increasing casualisation and a decline in safety, RMT has warned. Even a senior rail industry figure warned MPs and Lords that NR’s plan could cause serious damage to its supply chain, impact on passengers and lead to a less efficient rail industry. Peter Loosley, policy director at trade body the Railway Industry Association (RIA) told the All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group that there was a shortfall of approximately £500 million in renewals work in Network Rail’s current programme. He warned that the hiatus in orders towards the end of Control Period 5 (CP5), which runs to March 2019, combined with a drop in work on future projects under the Governance for Railway Investment Projects (GRIP) process, poses a ‘significant threat’ to the rail network’s supply chain. The Independent newspaper revealed the contents of a letter written by senior Network Rail official Ben Brooks earlier this year in which he made a grim summary of the organisation’s prospects up to 2019, the remainder of its ‘control period 5’. As a result Network Rail would see the cancellation of all remaining renewal schemes on the London North Western route, running from Euston Station through Cumbria to Scotland; all work on the Wessex route, taking in South West London, plus all work planned for 2019 in Wales. There are also reduced renewal plans on the South East route, from London across Kent, Surrey and Sussex, and on the Western route from London Paddington to Bristol and Penzance. The letter suggests that £139 million of spending has been deferred from planned work on the London North Eastern and East Midlands route, covering lines from the Scottish border to London King's Cross and from Sheffield to London St Pancras. RIA members had reported falls in demand of between 20 per cent and 45 per cent in renewals work and ‘little if any GRIP 1-3 development work coming through for CP6’. Suppliers also reported reduced confidence to invest, exemplified by British Steel reducing its rail finishing facility by around 40 per cent and reduced staff levels at many companies. Mr Loosley argued that staffing levels would need to be increased when work becomes available again – raising the spectre of a more casualised NO CUTS, NO PRIVATISATION Network Rail market ‘reforms’ threaten jobs, safety and a less efficient rail industry