From
the BBC» :
RMT▸ and TSSA» rail unions urge maintenance cuts rethink
Rail workers are due to lobby Parliament in protest at plans by Network Rail to cut maintenance jobs.
The Rail Maritime and Transport union will hand a dossier to MPs▸ detailing how it says cuts will undermine safety.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "We are sending a clear message to MPs that the rail maintenance job cuts are a lethal gamble."
Network Rail insisted that there would be "no compromise on safety" as a consequence of the job losses.
The firm, which employs 33,000 people, announced in September it would cut 2,549 jobs, including sub-contractors.
According to the RMT, hundreds of rail workers have contacted the union with examples of fewer track safety inspections, delays to level crossing repairs and a reduction in safety checks on railway signals.
Mr Crowe said the cuts would create "the perfect conditions for another Hatfield, Potters Bar or Grayrigg railway tragedy".
"The jobs to be axed are of those workers responsible for inspecting and repairing the track, signals, level crossings and overhead lines," he said. "They work 365 days a year, day and night in all conditions to keep the railway safe. Now they are going to be sacked as part of a so-called efficiency drive and we are calling on MPs of all parties to join us in a campaign to stop these fatally flawed cuts from being bulldozed through."
Gerry Doherty, leader of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, said Network Rail needed to put "safety first" by keeping maintenance jobs "whatever the pressures on the public purse".
He added: "It seems unbelievable that we are pressing a Labour government on railway safety more than eight years after the Potters Bar tragedy."
But a spokesman for the company said it had a "clear commitment" to taxpayers to reduce costs.
He added: "A common structure, new technology, higher standards and better knowledge of our assets will allow us to focus our efforts improving our service for passengers, providing a safe, efficient and reliable railway. Network Rail is always willing to talk to the RMT about its concerns."