The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has just announced a set of strikes that’ll be taking place on one of London’s busiest commuter rail lines in the coming weeks. Chiltern Railway drivers who are member of the RMT union are set to strike for 24 hours on Saturday, October 10 and Saturday, October 17 due to an ongoing dispute regarding the driver-only door operation which is currently planned for the new East West Rail services.
The RMT union said that its members ‘voted overwhelmingly’ in favour of the strikes that are due to take place next month. The dispute comes after the company reportedly ‘refused to provide guarantees over the safety critical role of the second person on board proposed East West Rail services’.
Tony Baxter, interim managing director of Chiltern Railways, has said, however: “Every East West Rail service will have two people on board – the driver, and a colleague looking after passengers: checking tickets, helping people who need assistance, and on hand to assist with any issues.”
The extent of the strikes and the impact that they will have on customers is yet to be revealed. Chiltern Railways have said that they expect the vast majority of services to continue running and that timetables for the affected dates will be confirmed soon. Chiltern Railway services currently run in and out of London Marylebone from and to the likes of Birmingham, Oxford, and Aylesbury.
RMT general secretary, Eddie Dempsey, said that the driver-only operation that’s been proposed on East West Rail poses a ‘significant risk to safety’ as well as a threat to the jobs of the Train Managers. Dempsey said: “The actions of Chiltern management to not take these concerns seriously is totally unacceptable” and that “RMT will not accept the watering down of safety on the rail network”.
There is, of course, still time for negotiations to be made and for the strikes to be called off. Chiltern Railways has said that they ‘remain committed to working with the RMT to resolve this, and urge them to work with us so passengers can start benefiting from this new railway as soon as possibl’. The RMT has also expressed that it is ‘available for meaningful talks with the company’.
You can read more about the upcoming strike action on Chiltern Railways here.
