Warning of ‘biggest rail strike in modern UK history’

COULD a rail strike bring trains to a “grinding halt” as we embark on our summer holidays?

The RMT trade union, which represents rail workers, certainly thinks so.

In fact, it has billed the prospect of widespread industrial action this year as “potentially the biggest rail strike in modern history”.

RMT officials have blamed the UK Government for triggering the ballot on strike action by putting jobs at risk.

The government’s Department for Transport (DfT) wants to overhaul the railway so it is less dependent on subsidies – taken off “taxpayer life support”.

The DfT has branded the threatened rail strike as “irresponsible”.

A DfT spokesman said an overhaul of the sector was needed to “avoid a similar decline seen in the 1950s-1960s where car usage saw many leave the railways”.

Rewind to last year and Sunday strikes saw trains cancelled across Tayside and Fife. The cause was a long-running pay dispute.

This time, the row does not involve ScotRail.

It concerns Network Rail workers involved in maintaining the infrastructure needed to keep trains running across Dundee, Perth, Angus and Fife and further afield.

Also involved are train operators serving Scotland including LNER, Cross Country Trains, Transpennine Express and Avanti West Coast.

They are part of the UK Rail Delivery Group’s Rail Industry Recovery Group (RIRG) – which is working to reform the railways.

RMT regional organiser Mick Hogg said workers are deeply concerned about the reforms being mooted.

“There are continuous threats of job losses and continuous attacks on terms and conditions,” he explained.

Meanwhile, a Rail Delivery Group spokesperson urged the RMT to “work with us to bring how we run our services up to date”.