Rail services disrupted again in ongoing dispute over guards on trains

Rail services were disrupted again on Saturday because of fresh strikes in the bitter dispute over guards on trains.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union on South Western Railway (SWR) completed a five-day walkout which has led to delays, fewer trains and overcrowding on services this week.

The union staged its 33rd strike on Arriva Rail North (Northern) which was again crippling services.

Picket lines were mounted outside stations and the union said workers were solidly supporting both strikes.

SWR was running a reduced service on most of its network, with some routes not having a train service or replacement buses.

Northern said few trains ran before 9am and there will be a similar picture after 6pm because of the 10th consecutive Saturday strike.

A statement said: “We expect to run around 30% of services and all customers are advised to plan carefully if they intend to travel on the rail network.

“Unfortunately, on some routes, we aren’t able to run services, while others have a limited service. On those routes where we are able to operate trains, we expect all services to be extremely busy.

“We also have replacement bus services available on some routes where trains aren’t running.”

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “RMT members are standing solid, determined and united again this morning on both Northern and South Western Railway in the long-running fight for safety, security and access on our trains while the private train companies gamble with their passengers well-being.

“It is scandalous that while other train operators have been prepared to engage seriously with RMT on the crucial issue of a guaranteed second safety-critical member of staff on their services, Northern and SWR have failed to lift a finger to get talks going.

They are happy to sit back and collect the taxpayer-funded compo from the Government for not running trains. ‎That is a national scandal.”

The RMT has written to the rail regulator raising claims of safety breaches during this week’s strikes on SWR.

Mr Cash said: “It is appalling that rather than settling their disputes, these train companies are prepared to throw huge sums of money at a scab-army of volunteer managers who are a clear danger to passengers.

“It’s about time the safety regulator, who is funded by the private train companies, stopped letting the piper call the tune and took action to stop this dangerous nonsense.”

An SWR spokesman said: “Our contingency staff are trained for the duties they undertake. These training arrangements are verified both internally and by an independent safety adviser.

“Any operational incidents are reported and investigated in exactly the same way as when they happen during normal service.”