UNION chiefs called on the Scottish Government to “get a grip” on ScotRail on the eve of the second day of strike action over plans for more driver-only trains.
The call came from the RMT after a “potentially disastrous” incident at Tweedbank station in the Borders on Tuesday – during the first 24-hour strike – when a manager standing in for a guard signalled to a driver to go through a red light. The union called on transport minister Humza Yousaf to step in before any more similar incidents happen.
ScotRail confirmed that a conductor working on the Tweedbank to Edinburgh service on Tuesday gave an incorrect signal to depart to the driver. It said the driver did not accept the signal and the train did not move away. The train was cancelled and passengers were transferred to the next service.
A ScotRail spokesman said: “Following normal procedure, this was immediately reported to control and our normal internal investigations have commenced.”
RMT chiefs said the incident called into question the effectiveness of training for workers standing in for striking guards and said it showed ScotRail was “playing fast and loose” with passenger safety.
Craig Johnston, RMT Scotland’s regional relief organiser said: “I call on Humza Yousaf to get a grip of this situation before any more incidents like this occur. This poses the question as to how robust the training has been for individuals who working while our members are out of strike.
“Had the driver not noticed the signal was red and just took the acting guard’s instruction it could have been potentially disastrous. My view is that ScotRail is playing fast and loose with passenger safety to try and provide a service.
“What they should be doing is spending their time sitting down with the trade unions and working their way out of the impasse.
“Guards are crucial on these trains and have been trained on evacuation procedures on trains, signalling systems, track layouts, how to deal with train doors, emergencies and also how to protect the train in the event a failure or derailment.”
Yousaf urged the travelling public to plan their journeys ahead of a second round of strike action on Scotland’s railways.
He chaired the Scottish Government’s resilience committee for a third time to discuss contingency plans for a second walkout.
ScotRail estimates about 70 per cent of services will run as normal, but some disruption is inevitable.
Yousaf said: “The issue of safety is a top priority on our railways, so I’m very disappointed that we’re planning for a second round of industrial action when further dialogue between ScotRail and the RMT union is still an option.”
As today’s second round of strikes approached, RMT members staged a protest outside the Dutch embassy calling on the Dutch Government to intervene in the guards’ dispute with Abellio/ScotRail.
The union claimed new figures showed that Scotrail/Abellio’s parent company, Dutch state-owned Nederlandse Spoorwegen, was profiting at the expense of jobs and services on Scotland’s rail services.
The RMT’s general secretary, Mick Cash, attacked the firm, saying: “While our members are on strike again today, defending jobs and safety on Scotland’s railways, Abellio/ScotRail refuse to talk and are instead holed up in their bunker counting out the cash they have lifted out of passenger and taxpayers’ pockets.”
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