The RMT has announced that it is to ballot members for nationwide industrial action over the 1500 proposed redundancies within Network Rail's maintenance organisation. The ballot will get underway in the New Year. The union is also to fight the company's attempts to discard existing employment agreements and impose new working arrangements.

Problems encountered during the current cold snap have been worsened by staff shortages, according to the RMT. Photo: draml

“The plan to axe 1500 maintenance jobs across the rail network is a reckless gamble with rail safety which would create the perfect conditions for another Hatfield, Paddington, Potters Bar or Grayrigg disaster" claims General Secretary Bob Crow. "We saw under Railtrack the lethal consequences of cutting back on maintenance and Network Rail now wants to turn the clock back to those dark days by forcing staff out of the door in order to hit budget targets. It’s outrageous and we have no option but to ballot for action."

"The past few days have shown that there are already too few staff to deal with the freezing conditions on the tracks. Many of the problems that have hit the railways have been down to not enough engineers being available to unfreeze points and tracks. The 1500 planned job cuts will hit services and safety with dire consequences for staff and passengers alike.”