Unions have urged one “final push” to save railway ticket offices from closure before the public consultation ends on Friday, when train drivers strike again.
Around half a million responses have been submitted to the consultation over cost-cutting proposals to close most of England’s 1,000 station offices.
The issue has become a focal point in rail’s wider pay dispute with unions claiming it will further run down services and deter passengers, though train operators say customers will be served better by staff in new roles on platforms and concourses.
Most rail services in England will not run on Friday due to the Aslef strike, with a further day of severe disruption on Saturday when train staff in the RMT will walk out again, in the long-running dispute over jobs and pay.
Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Aslef, said most drivers wanted the union to step up industrial action, as it embarked on its first strike in three months after reballoting members for a fresh mandate.
He described the ticket office closure plans as a “naive and dangerous decision” and accused the government and rail industry leaders of “blatant lying” in saying people would all be redeployed as front-facing staff: “The actual figures [show] these are job cuts. We’re going to have a railway where we were talking not long ago about increased sexual assaults and county lines [drug trafficking], made less safe for the travelling public, less safe for the people that work on the railway.”
An RMT-led march in London protesting against the ticket office closures set off from the Department for Transport (DfT) to Downing Street on Thursday evening.
A third rail union, the TSSA, which represents many station staff, said it had been “heartwarming” to see so many people respond to the consultation.
The TSSA interim general secretary, Peter Pendle, added: “It’s clear that the public recognise that ticket offices perform an essential role in making our railways safe and accessible for all. We must make one final push and urge the government to think again.”
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The Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators, extended the consultation in July and said it was listening to feedback. Jacqueline Starr, its chief executive, said: “The taxpayer is continuing to subsidise the railway, and we believe that now is the right time to move staff to more flexible, engaging roles so our staff can better support customers face to face with a whole range of needs – from finding the right ticket, to navigating the station and getting support with accessibility needs, while reducing costs to taxpayers.”
On the pay issue, Whelan said there had been no talks with rail industry leaders or government for many months, but 14 pay deals had been settled in the last year around Britain with operators who were not directly contracted to the DfT. He said: “This is a Westminster political problem. It’s not an industrial resolution that’s going to solve this.”
Hopes that public sector pay deals agreed in the NHS and education could ease a settlement in rail have proved unfounded.
Whelan said: “Most of those deals were done on a no-strings basis.” The 8% two-year offer to train drivers also demands changes to working conditions, the Aslef leader said. “We work for private companies that make hundreds of millions profits. Why should we fund their profits?”
Friday’s rail strike will stop virtually all national rail services in England, with cross-border trains to Wales and Scotland also affected. Drivers will not work overtime on Saturday, amplifying the effects of the RMT strike.
The companies affected are Avanti West Coast; Chiltern; c2c; CrossCountry; East Midlands; Greater Anglia; GTR, covering Great Northern, Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express; Great Western; LNER; Northern; Southeastern; South Western; TransPennine Express; and West Midlands Trains.
A Rail Delivery Group spokesperson said operators would run as many services as possible, adding: “There is no question the strikes called by the RMT and Aslef leaderships are deliberately designed to target passengers at the end of the summer holidays, disrupting their plans, hurting local economies and forcing more cars on to the road.”
