Job cuts at Network Rail - track renewal team in lead up to CP7

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From New Civil Engineer

In the lead up to Control Period 7 (CP7), April 2024-March 2029, Network Rail has cut more than 500 posts in its Track Renewal Service (TRS), with 269 employees having lost their jobs.

Currently there are 794 posts within the organisation for track renewals, but for CP7 this will be reduced to 263. However, only 592 of the posts are presently filled and 60 of those are not affected by the proposals. Therefore the number of redundancies made is 269.

Track renewals are an important part of maintaining the railways and include renewing all parts of the track when it becomes life-expired or damaged. The various parts that are replaced during track renewals often include rails, sleepers, switches and crossings and sets of points. Network Rail has claimed the cuts in the service are due to an expected lower demand for the specialism in CP7.

The National Union for Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers)) has slammed the job cuts within Network Rail supply-chain operations as “short-sighted” and stated they are the “latest act of the slash and burn culture developing within the rail infrastructure company”.

The union has warned that the latest cuts come off the back of massive government funding cuts for CP7 which means a decline in renewals for the next five years. This is despite the fact that regulator the Office for Rail and Road (ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)) has made it clear that Network Rail should increase planned spending on renewals by £600M.

[Electric train]

From New Civil Engineer

In the lead up to Control Period 7 (CP7), April 2024-March 2029, Network Rail has cut more than 500 posts in its Track Renewal Service (TRS), with 269 employees having lost their jobs.

Currently there are 794 posts within the organisation for track renewals, but for CP7 this will be reduced to 263. However, only 592 of the posts are presently filled and 60 of those are not affected by the proposals. Therefore the number of redundancies made is 269.

Track renewals are an important part of maintaining the railways and include renewing all parts of the track when it becomes life-expired or damaged. The various parts that are replaced during track renewals often include rails, sleepers, switches and crossings and sets of points. Network Rail has claimed the cuts in the service are due to an expected lower demand for the specialism in CP7.

The National Union for Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers)) has slammed the job cuts within Network Rail supply-chain operations as “short-sighted” and stated they are the “latest act of the slash and burn culture developing within the rail infrastructure company”.

The union has warned that the latest cuts come off the back of massive government funding cuts for CP7 which means a decline in renewals for the next five years. This is despite the fact that regulator the Office for Rail and Road (ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)) has made it clear that Network Rail should increase planned spending on renewals by £600M.

It's not just the Track Renewals Service that has had cuts, every part of Maintainenance Delivery has had cut in staff numbers, the time between inspections and maintainenance stretched.  The way staff are rostered has been changed substantially.

Last week saw the majority of maintenance staff taking voluntary redundancy leave NR^» (Network Rail - home page), many are highly experienced and qualified staff.  Why these staff were allowed to go, the numbers were target driven by the Government and the agreement the the Trade Unions of no compulsory redundancies.

The performance of the railway may well decline over the next few years, according to the Government the railways passenger numbers recovery post Covid is only at 75 - 80%

[ellendune]

From New Civil Engineer

Network Rail has claimed the cuts in the service are due to an expected lower demand for the specialism in CP7.

Well if the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) (or is it Treasury - the well known experts on everything) instructs Network Rail to reduce track renewals then they would reasonably expect a lower demand.  Doesn't mean that it is not driven by government cuts.