18-month Southern trains dispute could finally be over

AN END to the 18-month Southern Rail dispute — the longest in railway history — appeared close today as union chiefs said they were “finalising” a deal.

Aslef, the train drivers’ union, said “significant progress” had been made during talks with GTR, Southern’s parent company. It added: “We are now in the process of finalising a proposal for agreement.”

But twice before the Aslef leadership has announced it had reached agreement — and both times their membership rejected it in a ballot.

The RMT union remains in dispute, with two more strikes scheduled to take place on October 3 and 5 — effectively c au s i n g mo re d i s r u p t i o n throughout the entire week.

The dispute, which began in April last year, is over the changing role of guards and implementation of driver-only operated (DOO) trains. Unions claim DOO is unsafe — which is denied by rail industry chiefs — and want two members of staff on trains.

A sl e f, wh i c h controls the vast majority of Southern drivers, has brought its network to a halt six times with 24-hour strikes. A source close to the negotiations said: “There is no deal yet on the table and the whole thing could still unravel.”

A proposed settlement would go to ballot among the union’s 1,000 Southern drivers, with a result unlikely until November.