Alarm as 1,400 rail maintenance jobs under threat

Over 1,400 rail maintenance jobs could be slashed by Network Rail, rail union RMT has claimed.

Around 650 of these posts will be on the West Coast Main Line, the busiest rail corridor in the UK, the union warned. It said the line would be thrown into “total chaos” if the job cuts went ahead.

Up to 650 jobs could be cut on the West Coast Main Line

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said: “With the well-documented history of infrastructure problems and failures on the West Coast Main Line it simply defies all logic that Network Rail could even be considering axing 650 maintenance jobs as part of their national cost reduction plan.”

Network Rail said no final decisions had been made and that it was continuing discussions with its employees and union representatives.

But it added that the new high-frequency timetable required a “different approach” from how maintenance was carried out on the newly modernised West Coast route. “Our plans to restructure maintenance depots will enable us to direct resources to where they are needed and enable them to be more responsive,” a spokesperson said.