Parked freight services could block passenger trains from station platforms when strikes occur, warns railroad chief
- John Rail of GB Railfreight has warned of chaos if there are rail strikes
- He said freight trains may have to block platforms to keep urgent deliveries
- Staff layoffs can affect gasoline and diesel supplies and in-store deliveries
- Railway staff have voted in favor of industrial action to improve wages and conditions
By Darren Boyle for MailOnline
Posted: 18:01, 26 May 2022 | Updated: 6:39 PM, May 26, 2022
Parked freight services could block passenger trains on station platforms during strikes, an industry leader has warned.
John Smith, executive director of GB Railfreight, said the measure may be necessary if a skeleton timeline is implemented during industrial action.
Fears have been raised that staff layoffs could lead to the closure of much of the rail network, affecting the supply of petrol and diesel and the delivery of goods to shops.
Union leaders will decide next week when to call strikes after workers overwhelmingly support industrial action on jobs, pay and conditions.
John Smith, CEO of GB Railfreight, said the move may be necessary if a skeleton timetable is implemented during planned industrial action to keep circulating vital supplies such as petrol and diesel, as well as products for in supermarkets and shops.
Railway unions have voted in favor of the strike to fight for better wages and conditions for their members
On Tuesday, Transport Minister Baroness Vere said it was “very important that we try to prioritize the transport of goods by rail whenever we can because supply chains are very important”.
Freight operators are arguing with Network Rail over the impact of the strikes on their flags.
About 80% of services may be cut off, with trains running only part of the day and only on main lines.
Smith, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group’s freight board, said: “If we’re only running for 12 hours (a day), we’ll have to park freight trains at the train stations until the next 12 -A period of hours appears and we can move again.
‘We have trains that (currently) run all day.
“One of the key issues we have with a 12-hour schedule is that our trains often only rotate around 24 hours a day, to load them, get them where they go, unload them and take them. they return them.
“If the railway is only open (for) 12 hours, they are only halfway through or stuck in the middle of nowhere.
“Prioritizing rail freight transport within a strike would be a lot of saying, ‘You can’t run your passenger train, we’ll have to park on the station platform.’
‘This is to be seen. We are in discussions with Network Rail about what a timetable is and how it could work. “
Smith predicted that disrupting the supply of fuel and transporting goods arriving at ports would be what “the man on the street begins to see first” from the strikes.
He said freight trains put most of the road’s fuel into the Midlands, so industrial action could cause some of the region’s yards to run out of petrol and diesel, which “quickly causes panic purchase “.
But his “biggest fear” is that the threat of strikes could persuade companies to delay the shift from transporting goods by road to rail as part of decarbonization efforts.
He said some business leaders may feel that “now is not the time” to invest in rail freight infrastructure, believing that railways “are not a reliable supply chain” due to possible disruptions.
Network Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members and 13 train operators overwhelmingly supported industrial action in a vote.
The union will have to warn the strikes two weeks in advance, which could begin in mid-June.
The government and railway companies criticized the measure, calling it “very disappointing and premature”, and warned that the action could affect the recovery of the railway sector from the damage caused by the coronavirus.