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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Stuart Gillespie

Dumfries and Galloway train passengers suffer further disruption due to latest RMT strike action

Train passengers faced further disruption on Wednesday due to strike action.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union at Network Rail staged their latest walk-out, having already been involved in three days of strikes in June.

And train travellers will face more misery next month unless there is a breakthrough in the pay and conditions stand-off.

The RMT is planning more strike action on August 18 and 20.

The dispute also involves 13 train operators – not including ScotRail.

But as Network Rail is responsible for train lines and infrastructure, they were only able to run a handful of services – none in Dumfries and Galloway.

A handful of Avanti West Coast services stopped at Lockerbie, with TransPennine Express not operating any services that stopped there.

There was also a knock-on effect to services yesterday as the network got up and running again.

The dispute between the RMT, train operators and Network Rail is over pay and conditions.

RMT general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “Network Rail have not made any improvement on their previous pay offer and the train companies have not offered us anything new.

“In fact Network Rail have upped the ante, threatening to impose compulsory redundancies and unsafe 50 per cent cuts to maintenance work if we did not withdraw our planned strike action.

“The train operating companies have put driver-only operations on the table along with ransacking our members’ terms and conditions.

“RMT will continue to negotiate in good faith but we will not be bullied or cajoled by anyone.”

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, said ahead of the strikes: “Despite our best efforts to find a breakthrough, I’m afraid there will be more disruption for passengers this week as the RMT seems hell-bent on continuing their political campaigning, rather than compromising and agreeing a deal for their members.

“I can only apologise for the impact this pointless strike will have on passengers, especially those travelling for holidays or attending events.

“It is frustrating to yet again ask our passengers to change their plans and only make essential journeys.”

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