Safety During the Tube Lines Dispute

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THE TRUTH IS COMING OUT

Many Train Operators expressed concerns over safety during the recent Tube Lines strike. A lot of drivers believed that safety standards were not up to scratch. Some drivers believed that they had been given assurances during previous similar situations, that had turned out not to be true.

Track Maintenance:

Facts are now coming to light; for example, the Rayners Lane and Heathrow branches of the Piccadilly Line were not inspected normally. Track inspections were carried out by Managers from the Jubilee Line, who did not know the area. Track walks were doubled up and carried out in advance. Normal records were not kept of this work. This is on a line where an engineering train recently derailed, because of poor track condition and many track jobs have been waiting for months or even years.

The Emergency Response Unit

Tube Lines ERU covers the whole of London Underground. ERU are contractually obliged to supply a 365 day 24 hour service of 12 fully trained and licensed staff to the underground for use in Emergency and to ensure the safety of Staff and the travelling public.

During the 48 hour strike Tube Lines assured LUL that they had “adequate cover”. However, it now turns out that this “cover” consisted of ERU managers along with some ex ERU staff who had taken positions in other departments or offices or on restricted duties. It seems extremely unlikely that any of them had all the qualifications that an ERU operator needs. However, this cannot be ascertained because Tube Lines and LUL refuse to disclose the licence details or even the names of those who were attempting to carry out this vital safety work instead of the regular staff.

“During the recent Tube Lines Despite repeated requests to London Underground management to provide the RMT with names numbers competencies and licences for those allegedly covering Emergency Response Unit duties this information has not been provided to us.” - Steve Hedley, RMT Regional Organiser

“I can’t think of any reason why LUL would not give you this information” - Inspector from Office of Rail Regulation.

Furthermore, it now seems that this ‘Dad’s Army’ cobbled together from semi-qualified and out of touch people, were only able to provide - on average- four staff on shift at any one time during the strike. This would be hopelessly inadequate to cover the whole of LUL, even for the proper qualified staff.

The facts speak for themselves. Management claims have not turned out to be true. They were not even honest with the passengers. They claimed that serious disruptions were caused by signal failures. For example, packed passenger trains at Kings Cross were being held for long periods and the public told this was due to a signal failure at Cockfosters!

LUL Managers also broke their own procedures, which say that staff refusing to work on safety grounds can be accompanied by a Health and Safety Rep at an interview. Instead, Managers refused to allow this, and forcefully insisted, sometimes in an almost threatening way, that all was well. These Managers were repeating what other managers had told them, who were repeating what Tube Lines Managers told them.

The real truth is starting to emerge!