This Wednesday, 27th March 2013, marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the infamous Beeching report which led to the decimation of much of the UK’s railways. Unions and campaigners, under the Action for Rail banner, will be out at railway stations up and down the country ramping up the campaign to defend rail services and to renationalise the entire network.

Rail union RMT is warning that rail services are again under threat from what amounts to “Beeching Two” as the government, Network Rail and train operators seek to make massive staff cuts against a backdrop of private profiteering, huge fare increases and unprecedented demand.

The McNulty Rail Review proposals, adopted by the Government and branded by RMT as “Beeching Two”, would:

• Attack pay, jobs and conditions, casualising work that has been repeatedly shown as essential to public and staff safety.
• Introduce DOO (driver only operation) throughout the system, throwing the guards, and their safety-critical role, off Britain’s trains.
  
  On the fiftieth anniversary of Beeching, RMT renews the call for a massive expansion of rail capacity, under public ownership" - Bob Crow
• Closure of signal boxes and reductions in maintenance and renewals staff with associated cuts to maintenance schedules.
• Huge reductions in platform and other station staff – creating the criminals’ paradise of a “faceless” and de-staffed railway.
• Closures and reduction of hours at over 50% of currently staffed ticket offices

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:

“On the fiftieth anniversary of Beeching, RMT renews the call for a massive expansion of rail capacity, under public ownership, to meet the surge in demand that we know is going to be thrown at services over the coming years, services that are already creaking at the seams. We are still paying today for the reckless axing of rail services during the Beeching era.

Beeching Report and NUR response by RobertG

“Today we face the threat of Beeching 2, the governments McNulty Rail Review, which again puts savage cuts centre stage.

“Beeching got it badly wrong half a century ago on the future of rail as a popular mode of travel. His butchery of rail services has been matched by more recent generations of politicians in the fragmentation and exploitation of privatisation. Now is the time to right the wrongs of the past and put an expanded, integrated and publicly owned railway at the heart of future transport policy.

"We are calling on the public to join the RMT backed Action for Rail campaign to let the government, Network Rail and train operators know that RMT members demand a railway that puts people and passengers before profit."