Cuts to rail funding increases risk of serious crash, union warns
manchestereveningnews.co.ukRail funding cuts will increase the risk of serious train crashes, trade unions have claimed. A report by the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) stated that Network Rail plans to slash its annual expenditure by £100 million, mainly through the loss of 2,500 maintenance jobs.
The union organisation believes it is “impossible” to make such cuts without losing “safety-critical jobs”. It also warned that train timetables will be reduced as the Treasury has ordered the Department for Transport (DfT) to bring down its annual budget by 10 percent.
The TUC’s report said: “These cuts threaten essential services and maintenance, and increase the risk of the types of accidents that marked the first decades of privatised rail.” READ MORE: Police commissioner caught speeding FIVE times in four months Britain’s railways were hit by a series of deadly crashes in the years after train operation was privatised in the mid-1990s.
These included accidents at Southall, west London in September 1997; Ladbroke Grove, west London in October 1999; Hatfield, Hertfordshire in October 2000; and Potters Bar, Hertfordshire in May 2002.
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