County’s rail users assured on main line strike bid

TRANSPORT BOSSES have reassured Yorkshire’s train travellers that they will keep them on the move during a strike on the main Leeds to London rail line.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will stage a 48-hour walkout at Virgin Trains East Coast on April 28 and 29 in a dispute over staffing and driver-only trains.

But Virgin says services on the East Coast Main Line – which also links Yorkshire with Edinburgh – should continue to run close to a normal schedule. The company’s managing director, David Horne, said: “We have worked hard to ensure there are comprehensive contingency plans in place and I want to reassure our customers that our timetable will be almost completely unaffected during this walkout, as well as during any subsequent strikes by the RMT.”

He added: “With our guarantees that there will be no compulsory redundancies, no impact on safety and a near-normal timetable in place during the walkouts, this pointless strike will cost RMT members pay for no reason, and we urge the union to rejoin us for further discussions.”

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “It is simply appalling that Virgin East Coast have refused to give the most basic assurances on the safety-critical role of the guard on their trains continuing into the future. Instead they have sought to fob us off with meaningless statements that are, frankly, an insult to the intelligence of our members who are charged with maintaining safety on board these intercity trains.”

The RMT has also called a 24hour strike on Northern services on April 28 over the same issue. It will be the third walkout to hit the operator in just over six weeks.

Northern deputy managing director Richard Allan said: “We have robust contingency plans in place to keep our customers on the move where possible. We urge RMT to get back round the table with an open mind as soon as possible.

“In addition to protecting jobs and current pay, we are also willing to offer future annual pay reviews for existing conductors if we can agree a deal with RMT.”

Northern aimed to run around a third of its normal services during the last two strikes by the RMT.