Northern in crisis talks?

[Bletchleyite]

I agree. But I never want to see a situation where there has to be a strike over reducing services and closing lines.

Echoes of Beeching - "but we need fully staffed stations" rather than accepting Paytrains etc to keep things viable.

 

[furnessvale]

The railways are already an irrelevance for freight traffic (lost an almost total monopoly to almost nothing) and the same will happen with passengers with autonomous vehicle technology. Their current antics will merely accelerate their irrelevance to most of the population.

Given that the percentage of freight traffic moved by rail in the UK is double the percentage of passenger traffic, if freight by rail is irrelevant, where does that leave passengers............TOTALLY irrelevant?

 

[Intermodal]

Given that the percentage of freight traffic moved by rail in the UK is double the percentage of passenger traffic, if freight by rail is irrelevant, where does that leave passengers............TOTALLY irrelevant?

Do you have the numbers for this please?

 

[Confused52]

No, a responsible Government should be applying pressure on both sides to come to an agreement (particularly where agreements have been reached elsewhere) not egging them on into never ending industrial action, and certainly not with taxpayers money.

But the Government's position is in the Franchise Agreement and ARN are not a free agent we have established that time and time again. Given that the Government is therefore a party to the dispute it cannot be a mediator because the RMT don't trust it or it's motives. So unless the Government falls over Brexit the RMT, and ASLEF if they try to protect their fellow union will be in the firing line. It is unclear why we should be anything but pessimistic about this and how long the railways will take to recover. In this context the RMT are not acting in their member's or the public's interest. Either ASLEF agree to limited DCO on some Northern Connect services making the RMT effectively lose or there will have to be an all out strike. I see no other middle ground.

 

[yorksrob]

But the Government's position is in the Franchise Agreement and ARN are not a free agent we have established that time and time again. Given that the Government is therefore a party to the dispute it cannot be a mediator because the RMT don't trust it or it's motives. So unless the Government falls over Brexit the RMT, and ASLEF if they try to protect their fellow union will be in the firing line. It is unclear why we should be anything but pessimistic about this and how long the railways will take to recover. In this context the RMT are not acting in their member's or the public's interest. Either ASLEF agree to limited DCO on some Northern Connect services making the RMT effectively lose or there will have to be an all out strike. I see no other middle ground.

Your first few lines exactly illustrate why Government should change tack and bring about a compromise, rather than saying "nothing to do with me gov".

I would like to see the DfT's position in all of this scrutinised more closely.

 

[Starmill]

ASLEF if they try to protect their fellow union

It is far from clear that ASLEF did this at GTR.

 

[Dr Hoo]

This seems to be degenerating into another DOO thread.

Does anybody have a meaningful update on the ‘crisis talks’, please?

 

[Confused52]

It is far from clear that ASLEF did this at GTR.

I don't think it likely that they will support the RMT either, but I was pointing out that there is an all out strike either way we are just sitting here waiting for the 195/331 unit to ignite the storm.

Your first few lines exactly illustrate why Government should change tack and bring about a compromise, rather than saying "nothing to do with me gov".

I would like to see the DfT's position in all of this scrutinised more closely.

I know that, but they are the Government and Corbyn doesn't seem to want to waste an opposition day on this dispute because they have solved it all, nationalise!!!! They forget that the Chief Executive of Directly Operated Railways is none other than Peter Wilkinson. They will have to stall for a long time even if there were a General Election while they change a whole load of DfT officials. There is no one to scrutinise the DfT who will be trusted.

Didn't mention DOO but this is the heart of any crisis. I suspect that there is no crisis other crisis that is imminent.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

This seems to be degenerating into another DOO thread. Does anybody have a meaningful update on the ‘crisis talks’, please?

Where are these "crisis talks" being held?

 

[Starmill]

I don't think it likely that they will support the RMT either, but I was pointing out that there is an all out strike either way we are just sitting here waiting for the 195/331 unit to ignite the storm.

Yes I see exactly what you mean It would not surprise me if that were what happened

 

[Starmill]

Does anybody have a meaningful update on the ‘crisis talks’, please?

Where are these "crisis talks" being held?

What talks are these? The ones that we've already discussed and had a statement from the DfT refusing to even acknowledge? I'm not sure what the point of continuing to ask is?

 

[yorkie]

This thread seems to be covering the same ground as existing threads.

I’ve had a half hour of ‘Googling’ to try and get more information on these ‘crisis talks’ but information seems to be sparse.

If any further events come to light, which warrants a separate discussion in this thread, separate to the discussions taking place elsewhere, anyone is welcome to bring this to our attention and we can unlock the thread.