East-West Rail (EWR) countdown to entry into service

DfT h eon ly themselves to blame for this mess by giving the operation to Chiltern, when EWR was developed the EWR company was supposed to design build and operate the line as a stand alone mini TOC .
Had that happened the RMT would have had no leverage at all as it would have been a separate train company not liked to any other TOC operation

btdrawer said:

What effect would strike action have on Mk 5a services south of Banbury? Is the TM critical on that section?

Click to expand...

Bald Rick said:

The TM is needed. One assumes there are many contingency TMs to enable a service to continue.

Click to expand...

There could be a viewpoint taken that southbound, only, towards London there is no TM required (as the driver is not sat in the loco unable to get to the passengers).
However, the door operation of the loco operation precludes this, I believe.

Anyhow, academic. At this point in time the Mk5a would not be operating in passenger service if a strike by the RMT were called.
There would be no TM resource competent to operate them.

Geeves said:

they could have probably gone down the CSO route ala South Eastern but it wasn't even an option.

Click to expand...

Not that easy given RMT also voted for strike action when that role was introduced but I think a court decision ultimately prevented strikes.