Southern: Strikes

(asked on 10th January 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the reasons for the Southern Rail strike set out by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers in their publication <i>Southern Rail Dispute: The Facts</i>.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 24th January 2017

Driver Controlled Operation (DCO) is, as the RMT openly acknowledge, used on nearly a third of the UK rail network; it is a safe operating system that both the RMT and ALSEF have agreed can be used, and has been in use for over 30 years.

Indeed, if one includes London Underground services more than half of trains running in Britain operate with drivers controlling the doors. Daily, across the UK thousands of DCO trains, driven by both RMT and ASLEF members, operate safely. Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada are among other countries where such trains operate.

The new on-board supervisor roles will enable staff to be available to spend more time helping passengers. These staff are trained to manage emergencies, and there are no plans to reduce the number of on-board staff on Southern trains.

It is the simple truth that the independent rail regulator, the Office for Rail and Road ORR, has said that with suitable equipment, proper procedures and competent staff in place, DCO is a safe method of working.

Under DCO, the driver uses a combination of cameras, monitors or mirrors to check along the length of the train that it is safe for it to depart, instead of a guard or conductor making a visual check.

Only the on-board safety systems and a driver can stop a train when things go wrong. That is why having drivers check the platform on departure, is the safest way of operating a train.

DCO is already used on services as diverse as London Underground, London Overground, Southeastern – Metro and HS1 services, Southern – Metro and Brighton main line services (in 9 car formation), Thameslink – all services, Great Northern – all services, Chiltern – from London as far north as Banbury, Great Western Railway – Heathrow Connect and suburban including some Oxford services, Heathrow Express, Abellio Greater Anglia and c2c.

Again, we strongly urge the unions to get back round the negotiating table and resolve this nonsensical dispute.

Reticulating Splines