More chaos for Wigan rail commuters

Members of the RMT (Rail, Maritime and Transport) Union will stage a walk out on Saturday March 3, which will affect Northern services through Wigan.

It is the latest bout of industrial action linked to ongoing feuds over plans from Northern and Merseyrail to remove guards from its trains, which the RMT claim are vital for passenger safety.

The union today condemned Arriva Rail North - Northern’s parent company, for what it called a “total betrayal” over its refusal to negotiate ahead of the strikes.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: “The decision by Northern to not only refuse talks in advance of Saturday’s action but to also effectively rule out any future talks is a kick in the teeth for their staff and a total betrayal of the travelling public.”

“Every single effort that RMT has made to reach negotiated settlements in this dispute over safe operation and safe staffing has been kicked back in our faces. No one should be in any doubt, our action is about putting the safety of the travelling public before the profits of the private train companies.”

He added: “Our action goes ahead as planned and while the company digs themselves deeper into their bunker RMT remains available for talks.”

Northern have consistently stated that the changes will be implemented as part of its rail modernisation plans.

Richard Allan, Northern’s Deputy Managing Director said: “We are delivering our modernisation plans for customers with almost £500m of new trains under construction, £7m spent so far on improving our stations, 70 refurbished trains in service, 400 extra people recruited, and much more to come by 2020.

“We are still prepared to guarantee jobs and hold pay reviews for our 1,300 conductors until the end of our franchise in 2025, with the government guaranteeing jobs beyond that if RMT ends its strike action. RMT has recently rejected our request to hold a fresh ballot of Northern conductors after nearly a year of strike action.”

He added: “We are concentrating our efforts on running as many services as possible on Saturday 3 March to keep our customers moving.”

Northern services on the Wigan to Liverpool line and will still run but on a reduced timetable.

Commuters will also still be able to access the Manchester Airport to Southport and Kirkby trains, which will pass through Wigan Wallgate as usual.

For more information on the strikes and affected services, visit northernrailway.co.uk/strike.