The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) staged the second of three planned 24-hour walkouts yesterday in a dispute over who opens doors on a new east-west train service, claiming support among the 560 of its members taking action was “rock solid”.
Talks between the union and train operator ScotRail broke down last Wednesday after The Herald revealed that Government agency Transport Scotland had taken the decision to back controversial “driver-only
operations”, prompting the RMT to call for direct negotiations with Government ministers.
A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland said that Mr Stevenson had not yet formally responded to the RMT’s request but added: “The Minister is in the process of responding to the letters and will be responding that he is happy to meet the RMT to discuss their safety concerns.”
ScotRail claimed it was “business as usual” yesterday, with more than nine out of 10 services running as normal.
But the company admitted having to cancel a Glasgow-Edinburgh train after a conductor brought in to replace striking workers accidentally unlocked doors facing the track side.
The conductor on the 7.15am service from Glasgow Queen Street deactivated the door locking mechanism for both sides of the train instead of only the side facing the platform, a spokesman for ScotRail admitted.
But he said the mistake was rectified instantly, adding: “No doors were opened. Therefore, no-one was put at risk and safety was not compromised.
A third strike scheduled to coincide with the Scotland-England Six Nations rugby match at Murrayfield on Saturday, March 13, is due to go ahead, the RMT confirmed.
Bob Crow, the union’s general secretary, said: “Our members are rock solid across Scotland this morning in their strike action in defence of rail safety and the role of the guard.”
He said the union “remains available for meaningful talks”. Buses replaced trains on services between Glasgow and Oban, Fort William and Mallaig and on parts of the Glasgow-Carlisle service, as well as in the Inverness, Kyle of Lochalsh and Thurso areas. There were minor changes elsewhere.
Steve Montgomery, ScotRail’s managing director, said: “Our contingency plans are such that almost all our customers will not have noticed there was a strike.
“There were some service revisions due to the RMT’s bid to cause as much inconvenience as possible to our customers.
However, we are ensuring the vast majority of travellers are unaffected.”
Meanwhile, services on the West Highland line between Crianlarich and Fort William are expected to be disrupted for the rest of the week as work continues to clear the line of snow after a number of avalanches over the last week.
