Saturday 25 June 2022 10:45 PM Rail boss accuses militant union chiefs of risking lives by blocking vital ... trends now
Britain's top rail boss dramatically accused militant RMT union barons last night of putting lives at risk by blocking the introduction of vital safety equipment.
Andrew Haines, the chief executive of Network Rail, lambasted the far-Left union for opposing new technology that he said would slash the risk of rail workers being hit by trains and prevent a repeat of a train crash in which three people died.
With the rail network crippled yesterday by a third day of strikes, an exasperated Mr Haines accused intransigent union bosses of trying to drag Britain back to the 1970s, and warned that negotiations over pay and jobs were ‘running out of road’.
Andrew Haines, the chief executive of Network Rail, lambasted the far-Left union for opposing new technology that he said would slash the risk of rail workers being hit by trains
In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Mr Haines:
●Revealed that Network Rail will offer workers a bigger pay rise this week than that given to NHS staff last year, and will guarantee no compulsory job losses – but only if they overhaul inefficient working practices;
●Accused RMT bosses, including firebrand General Secretary Mick Lynch, of spending more time giving TV interviews than trying to resolve the hugely damaging dispute;
●Threatened to deploy the ‘Exocet’ option of cutting union barons out of talks within days and putting the proposed new deal directly to staff;
●Branded union bosses ‘deeply dishonest’ for claiming the industrial dispute is part of an assault on the working class;
●Burnished his own humble background as the son of a South Wales factory worker, and declared: ‘I can match Mick Lynch inch for inch for working-class credentials.’
The 58-year-old, who began his career as a left-luggage clerk at London’s Victoria Station, accused RMT negotiators of seeking to ‘weaponise every single element of change’ on the railways – including the introduction of safety technology.
For almost two years, Network Rail – which manages 20,000 miles of track and infrastructure – has been trying to introduce remote sensors to warn engineers if massive embankments or soil cuttings are in danger of collapse during heavy rainfall.
This follows the Stonehaven disaster in August 2020 when a passenger train from Aberdeen to Glasgow derailed after hitting debris washed on to the track. The driver, a conductor and a passenger died. Mr Haines said the sensors were ready to be used across Britain – but the RMT had blocked their deployment. ‘They are not making the risk worse, but what they are doing is stopping us making it better,’ he said.
The RMT is also accused of stopping Network Rail from using drones and trackside sensors to detect faults or damage rather than sending workers on to potentially dangerous railway lines.
Highlighting the death of Tyler Byrne, 30, a Network Rail employee killed by a train travelling at 76mph in February 2021 as he inspected a track in South West London, Mr Haines said: ‘He didn’t need to be there. What he was doing was looking at how the track performs when there are trains going over it. A drone could do that as well, if not better, than the human eye.’
Asked if the RMT was effectively putting the lives of railway workers at risk, he replied: ‘Absolutely.
‘I could give you three or four examples where it has been obstructing for several years technology which has the sole purpose of protecting their members or the users of the railway.’
He also claimed dashboard cameras had been fitted inside Network Rail’s huge fleet of repair vans but, farcically, the RMT will not allow them to be turned on.
‘A colleague died in a road traffic accident in February while driving a Network Rail vehicle,’ he added. ‘We have no camera footage to share with his family or the coroner to help explain that cause of death because the RMT blocks turning the cameras on.’ Talks between Network Rail and the RMT will resume tomorrow, and Mr Haines revealed he has permission from the Government to offer railway workers a bigger pay rise than the three per cent handed to NHS staff last year.
Crucially, the package must be funded from cash saved by overhauling Network Rail’s inefficient working practices. Menial tasks such as changing a plug socket can take a team of nine workers, and RMT members refuse to share vans with colleagues from outside their own team.
The Government spent £16 billion bailing out the railways when passenger numbers collapsed during the pandemic. They are still at only 75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, leaving the network with a £2 billion funding black hole and a desperate need to find savings.
‘The railway faces a massive financial crisis,’ said Mr Haines. ‘It would be a gross act of negligence if we didn’t make the railway more affordable as a result of this.’
In his office perched above Waterloo Station, he described last week’s failed talks as ‘hugely frustrating’ and claimed his negotiators had ‘very, very little face time’ with RMT officials
In his office
