Companies keen to preserve jobs

The pandemic is not expected to lead to job losses on the railway.

Go-Ahead Group Chief Strategy and Customer Officer Katy Taylor told Transport Select Committee MPs: “We obviously always look for efficiencies that we can manage, but customers will have different needs going forward. We need to work out what those different needs are.

“We need to do it as passengers start returning. Then we need to make sure that the railway is fit for the future and that our colleagues’ roles are relevant to what customers need.”

Abellio Group Managing Director Dominic Booth said there were no plans at present, while First Rail MD Steve Montgomery revealed Hull Trains has made 27 people redundant as the open access operator is not covered by Government support.

Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris told MPs: “We need a certain level of staffing to run the railways. We believe that we are at a pretty efficient level of staffing.”