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NR confirms cost-cutting plans, but claims safety-critical jobs will not be lost

Network Rail is currently preparing for a wave of cuts that could see 1,000 jobs axed, two unions have warned this week.

In a statement sent to RTM, however, the infrastructure owner dismissed the claims as “scaremongering”, arguing that though cuts would have to be made, there were no plans in place to cut any safety-critical jobs.

“Network Rail has no plans to cut any safety-critical jobs or any safety critical work. Any such suggestion is ridiculous scaremongering,” a spokesperson told us. “Network Rail is investing billions of pounds to improve our railway and will continue this investment through to 2019.”

However, the statement did go on to confirm that due to “cost pressures and changing priorities”, some losses would have to be implemented.

“Like all businesses, we have to live within our means,” the spokesperson explained. “This sometimes means making hard choices.

“We are making savings in non-essential areas to ensure we’re delivering value to the taxpayer, while at the same time continuing to deliver a safe, reliable and expanding railway.”

The infrastructure owner added that the safe running of the rail network would never be compromised, and that the adjustment in the activity of its high output track renewals work represents just 0.3% of its spend in the running of the railway network.

“Britain has the safest railway in Europe, thanks to the efforts of many thousands of hard working men and women, and they are ill-served by such baseless scaremongering by trade unions,” the statement said.

But rail unions have hit back at these claims, saying that the proposed cuts were a “scandal” that will impact on the smooth running of the railway at a time when the network is in desperate need of more funding.

Mick Cash, general secretary of RMT union, said: “These planned cuts are a scandal and would impact on services and safety at a time when our railways are already running right at the limit of safety tolerances.

“Track that is past its safe operational sell-by date would not be replaced within safe time limits running the risk of repeated failures and possible derailments. That is the government, through the ORR, playing fast and loose with rail safety.

“RMT wants an urgent meeting with NR on this issue and the union will use our political, industrial and campaigning tools to halt these cuts.”

By the same token, TSSA’s general secretary Manuel Cortes said that it was “hugely disappointing” that Network Rail resources were being cut by the “short-sighted Tories breaking spending promises and slashing and burning vital infrastructure projects and attacking a great workforce”.

“But it is terrifying that that they are doing this with rail safety,” Cortes argued. “Their privateering cavalier attitude towards rail safety in the 1990s was implicated in the Hatfield Rail crash which is why the Labour Government took the privatised RailTrack back into public ownership.

“NR was created so rail safety standards could be rigorously maintained. Network Rail is a safety success story, Britain has the safest railways in Europe – which is no mean feat considering they are also amongst the most overcrowded.”

Cortes also said that Britain could not afford to not invest in its rail infrastructure and called for the government to be held to account for the cuts.

“They cannot be allowed to let the hullaballoo around the triggering of Article 50 to be used as a good time to bury this bad news,” he concluded.

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