Posted 16th December 2009 | 6 Comments
Union vows to mount 'all-out fight' against East Coast plan
East Coast, run by the DfT, took over on 13 November from National Express
The RMT union said it will oppose what it claims are DfT plans to withdraw East Coast services between Edinburgh and Glasgow in 2011. The proposal was revealed in a briefing by managers, according to the union.
Scottish Labour MP Katy Clark will be tabling an Early Day Motion condemning the planned closure. The general secretary of the RMT, Bob Crow, said: "It is clear now that there has been a carve up behind closed doors which threatens the future of the important East Coast Mainline connection into Glasgow. We know that MPs and MSPs from all parties will be furious at this attack on a crucial Scottish rail link and RMT will be fighting all out to stop this proposal from being ratified on 8 January.
"Time is short and it is deeply cynical of East Coast to try and bundle this decision through over the Christmas and New Year period. We are urging the public to contact MPs and MSPs urgently to wind up the pressure to block this plan before it is too late."
Mr Crow also warned that the "cash-driven plan would blow a massive hole in rail services through north and south Lanarkshire, with dire social and economic consequences".
Although no decision has been taken, it does appear that changes are in the pipeline. A spokesman for East Coast said: "A new timetable is being developed for the East Coast Main Line which will represent the biggest timetable change since electrification in 1991.
“This will be a standard pattern timetable, which is easier to remember, will have faster journey times to key destinations and 25 extra weekday services.
“The development of this timetable is a major undertaking that involves industry partners, including East Coast. As part of this process, Network Rail has identified train pathing issues with our existing Glasgow to London route. The Department for Transport and Transport Scotland are examining options to resolve these pathing issues. We are committed to keeping our staff fully informed of the latest developments.”
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
andrew ganley, cheam, england
The phrases 'Chickens' and 'home to roost' comes to mind or maybe
'What goes round,comes round'
When will everyone (including 'passengers' realise Railway Privatisation has been the biggest single disaster of recent years,including the wholesale destruction of the uk based industry(the disgracefull closure of York Works in partucular) and do the TOCs really believe painting all their (German) built EMU/DMUs make for an efficiantly run railway.
And as for the freight side allowing DBS to come into the country and withdraw/scrap almost new classes of heavy freight locos(paid by us the taxpayer of course) dont even go there.
Oh and i agree 100% with Bob Crowes RMT.;
Mark, Leeds, UK
Im intrigued as to where Mark from London get this information thinking the railways are overstaffed with overly generous pay and conditions?
Can he point me to them please as its obviously better than the company I work for on the railway!
I can think of several proffesions where people are paid a lot more for doing a lot less? Banking?
Patrick Houghton, London, England
Mark in London, I totally disagree with you. This is nothing to do with pay and conditions. I am not a member of the RMT but I agree with them trying to stop rail service cuts, something which you seem to appear to want.
In addition, I disagree with your views on staffing. In my railway experiences, there seems to be a shortage of staff (no staff at all at some stations) and with what staff there are, they appear to be overworked with long queues at booking offices.
Chris Hamilton, Wishaw, Lanarkshire, United Kingdom
I am certainly not a supporter of the RMT, but I do agree with this campaign to save East Coast services between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
When the XC franchise was awarded to Arriva, almost all their services (except one) were withdrawn from Motherwell, this was then followed by a withdrawal of all but 3 services a day from Glasgow Central.
The new Virgin West Coast timetable has now withdrawn all but two services a day in each direction from Motherwell as a way of shaving 5 mins from the journey. Transpennine services don't call at Motherwell at all. This leaves EC as the only provider of a regular InterCity service at this important interchange station, a situation that I fear will dissapear once again if the route is handed to XC.
EC services from Motherwell to London are far faster from this WCML station than the Virgin service from Glasgow, as travelling into the city centre will add on average 1hr to your journey.
John Kelvin, Oxford
So the RMT calls for railway re-nationalisation - and what's the first thing that happens when we get a bit of renationalised railway - well guess what, the RMT makes a huge fuss about something that will probably not inconvenience too many passengers (Glasgow-London mainly by Virgin, Glasgow to other East Coast destinations, probably picked up by a revised Cross Country timetable - their Edinburgh trains extended to Glasgow). If the unions want re-nationalisation, they are surely going to have to show a more constructive approach than this to win over the general public. Benefits elsewhere to the revised East Coast timetable are likely to be enormous.
Mark, London, UK
So the unions are determined to remain enemy #1 to all rail users and passengers in the country. It is clear that they see the railway as an income generator for their members rather than a public service for use by passengers.
Britain's railways are currently ridiculously overstaffed with most stations having several members of staff with precious little to do with their time and going out of their way to avoid any customer-facing tasks.
I'm sorry if I sound bitter but there is a fundamental problem with unions holding the travelling public to ransom to maintain extremely generous pay and conditions.