Great article from Nigel Harris in RAIL Magazine. He writes:
"I was once a proud member of the National Union of Railwaymen (under Sidney Weighell), now the RMT, and I have great empathy, affinity and friendship with drivers. But I simply cannot see a legitimate reason why these proposals to modernise our railway should not go ahead. The blunt truth is that this is a dispute which we have been putting off for 25 years - and you can see why. It also now threatens rail's reputation more widely."
He answers the unions' concerns around safety, pointing out that evidence supports Rail Standards & Safety Board CEO Mark Phillips and ORR Director of Rail Safety Ian Prosser when they formally confirmed that SR's plans are safe. Indeed, the evidence shows that "in 2015-16, more than 1.6 billion passengers boarded
26,000 trains a day in considerable safety: there were just six 'trap and drag' incidents and injuries."
Meanwhile, he correctly states that "each station is being risk-assessed to ensure safe operation, by provision of staff where established procedures with ORR require such staff. Likewise for lighting and visibility - all done in association with ASLEF, by
the way. Help points at unmanned stations mean turn-up-and-go passengers requiring assistance can arrange it. Either staff are sent from a nearby manned station, or the quickest solution is usually to take passengers by taxi to the nearest manned station."
He concludes: "The Government is disingenuous in standing back, Southern stands rightly charged of ham-fisted and heavy-handed management, while the unions are increasingly seen as Luddite." This mirrors my own even-handed distribution of blame, but the unions have to accept that they are simply wrong on this issue and call off their unnecessary and damaging strikes.