Network Rail draws up contingency plan amid strike threat

Network Rail has drawn up contingency plans to deal with the threat of a strike by thousands of workers which could hit Easter travel plans, it was revealed today.

Ballot results being announced later this week could lead to walkouts by thousands of NR staff in separate rows over job cuts, changes to working practices and pay.

Robin Gisby, NR's director of operations, said today he was not prepared to see the country "held to ransom" by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, which is balloting thousands of its members for strikes.

The union is balloting maintenance and signalling workers in protest at plans to cut 1,500 jobs and change working practices.

NR said it hoped to achieve the "vast majority" of job losses through voluntary redundancy, adding that 1,100 staff had already volunteered to leave.

Compulsory redundancies could not be ruled out, although there will be none this year and the situation will be assessed at Christmas, said Mr Gisby.

Talks with the RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) were continuing despite the ballots, but NR said it was determined to press ahead with changes to working practices, some of which dated back to the 1950s.

There were 73 separate terms and conditions affecting maintenance staff, and some were now out of date, officials said.

Mr Gisby said he believed the company could keep trains running if maintenance workers took industrial action, with managers and supervisors being drafted in to cover for strikers, although speed restrictions could be put in place in the event of a week-long stoppage.

Signalling workers are also being balloted for strikes, but NR believes the outcome of their vote will be close, maintaining they were "not in the mood" to take industrial action.

NR is closing four or five signal boxes a year out of a current total of 1,800 because of increased automation and other changes.

NR will face fines running into millions of pounds if it has to change its Easter engineering work schedule as a result of industrial action, it was learned today.

Mr Gisby warned of a possible "fiasco" of rail passengers being taken by bus past areas where engineering work was suspended because of strikes.

He admitted NR was taking the threat of a strike seriously, adding: "This is about a fundamental need to change working practices.

"We cannot give a cast-iron guarantee of no compulsory redundancies, but this is about setting the tone for how we manage this company over the next two to three years."

NR said some working practices dated back to the "steam age".