A second of three scheduled rail strikes has gone ahead in Scotland today as talks broke down between Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members and railway employers.
The union continues to be involved in a bitter dispute over pay and working conditions, and accused the Transport Secretary of “wrecking” negotiations.
Members of the union at Network Rail and 13 train operators will walk out on Thursday following a stoppage on Tuesday, crippling large parts of the rail network.
RMT members are also scheduled to stage further strikes on Saturday.
Passengers across the UK have been facing continued disruption this week, even on days in between the three scheduled 24-hour strikes.
ScotRail cancelled 90% of its services on Tuesday, while cross-border services were also badly affected.
On Wednesday, despite there being no scheduled strike, passengers still faced cancellations and delays. ScotRail said this has been mainly caused by the staggered reopening of signal boxes.
The train operator urged any passengers wishing to travel on its services this week to check timetables on its website in advance.
It made a specific mention to fans of The Eagles to check trains ahead of the group’s concert at Murrayfield on Wednesday.
About 40,000 Network Rail staff are believed to have walked out at midnight on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the UK Government announced plans to change the law to enable businesses to supply skilled agency workers to plug staffing gaps during industrial action.
Ministers pointed out that, under current trade union laws, employment businesses are restricted from supplying temporary agency workers to cover for strikers, saying it can have a “disproportionate impact”.
Westminster said the legislation will repeal the “burdensome” legal restrictions, giving companies affected by strike action the freedom to tap into the services of employment businesses which can provide skilled, temporary agency staff at short notice.
Network Rail welcomed the move but Labour and unions condemned it as a “recipe for disaster”.
Steve Montgomery, who chairs the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators, was asked why rail workers are not being given a guarantee that reforms will not lead to compulsory redundancies.
He told BBC Breakfast that will depend on the extent of reforms, the popularity of voluntary severance schemes and how many workers can be retrained.
He added: “We believe that once we work through with the reform, that we can hopefully accommodate everybody who wants to stay within the organisation.
“So, we just need to get through the processes and see how many people are left, and hopefully nobody requires to be made compulsory redundant.”
The RMT accused Shapps of “wrecking” negotiations by not allowing Network Rail to withdraw their letter “threatening redundancy for 2,900 of our members”.
Shapps hit back, saying the RMT claim was a “lie”.
A Network Rail spokesman said: “We remain available for talks - day or night - and will do everything we can to avoid further disruption for our passengers.”
The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association announced on Wednesday that its members at the operator - which does not receive government funding - had accepted a 7.1% pay offer.
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