Dear colleague,
This year sees the beginning of the next five-year funding period from 2024 to 2029 on our railway called Control Period 7 (CP7). The UK and Scottish Government's alongside Network Rail and the Office of Rail and Road have been going through a process to agree and decide how much money is available for our railway for the next five years and their proposals are shocking and pose significant risks to the safety and performance of our railway.
In England & Wales there are proposals to cut £1.2bn from renewals budgets for CP7 alongside a plan to cut their Track Renewal Service (TRS) organisation which could make almost 500 highly skilled positions redundant and effectively winds up this operation within Network Rail meaning track renewals will now be completely outsourced to private infrastructure companies.
A recent RMT survey of maintenance members at Network Rail found that 92 per cent believe a major railway incident is likely to happen in the next two years because of these funding cuts.
Take Action Today!
In response RMT has today launched a campaign against these dangerous Government-driven cuts to Network Rail funding. We are demanding that the renewals funding for CP7 is immediately restored and that our railway infrastructure gets the investment that it needs so we have a safe, reliable railway fit for the 21st Century.
Please take two-minutes to write to your MP or MSP here and tell them to fund our railway properly!
Campaign Activities
Alongside the email campaign in February, we will be planning a 'Rail Cuts Cost Lives' Day of Action where we will be campaigning at stations across the UK. We will also be holding a campaign rally and lobby at Westminster Parliament to send a clear message to the UK Governments. All dates to be confirmed soon.
Thank you for your support.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Lynch
General Secretary
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