GOVERNMENT FALLING BEHIND ON TRANSPORT CLIMATE TARGETS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2023 :: RMTnews 8 Following mass cancellations on struggling Avanti West Coast services, catering services are now in a similar chaotic state caused by job cuts and poor management by the train operating company owned by FirstGroup and Trenitalia, RMT said today. Despite promising enhanced catering services on the franchise when it took over from Virgin, Avanti West Coast has actually cut nearly 200 catering jobs which has led to staff shortages, plummeting levels of service and massive uncertainty. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that the company was in such a mess that it could not offer at seat services for passengers despite the fact that the company claims that it can. “Avanti front line catering staff are also facing increasing levels of frustration, aggression and confrontation from passengers who are not receiving the level of service that they are expecting for the cost of travel. “This level of mismanagement is something that we have come to expect with this operator which should be providing stability on this crucial line but is clearly unable to do so. “This is another example as if one was needed of the necessity of public ownership and control of our railways,” he said. RMT research has revealed that Network Rail is nowhere near its own rail electrification targets as the government imposes austerity and managed decline on Britain’s railways. On the eve of the Global Day of Action on Climate Justice to coincide with COP27, union research shows that Network Rail is currently completely failing to match its net zero commitments on decarbonising our railways, ensuring that Britain continues to fall behind other countries in investing in faster, more efficient and green railways.  Network Rail's Traction Decarbonisation strategy states that over 8,000 miles of railway line needs to be electrified by 2050. Yet statistics from rail regulator the Office for Rail and Road, analysed by the RMT show that Britain needs to electrify its track at a rate of around nearly 300 miles every year, but in the past year 2021-22 managed to electrify just over one mile of new railway, the lowest figure for three years. The research comes on the back of Network Rail CEO Andrew Haines’ recent comments that it was ‘almost impossible’ for the company to achieve its electrification objectives in the current climate given its cost. The union warned that with the government fixated on preserving chaotic and inefficient structures and seeking cuts across the industry, there was little hope of meeting decarbonisation goals. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that transport was the UK’s largest emitting sector of Greenhouse gases yet instead of cutting carbon emissions the government was cutting public transport jobs and investment.  “Instead of investing to improve services and rapidly decarbonise our transport sector, they are undertaking a managed decline of our railways, which is compounded by persisting with a disastrously fragmented privatised rail system which is a barrier to long term rail investment and retention of skills needed to improve our railway infrastructure.    “If this government was serious about the climate emergency, it would recognise the vital role that our railways and public transport must play in cutting climate emissions,” he said. GOVERNMENT FALLING BEHIND ON TRANSPORT CLIMATE TARGETS Union slams government for cutting public transport jobs and investment instead of carbon emissions ON-BOARD AVANTI CHAOS REACHES CATERING SERVICES