7 August 2026
RMT Press Office:
RAIL union RMT has congratulated its members for the way they dealt with the recent power outages across the rail network.
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that the quick-thinking actions of hundreds of members working under difficult circumstances, including a heatwave showed what an important role they play.
“The impact of 90-second power cut in an important operations centre in Manchester, covering a wide geographical area across the North West, without a working backup supply has clearly been devastating, forcing signalling and trains to stop and be rebooted with full working not restored for 10 hours.
“Obviously we cannot have thousands of passengers and trains stranded or the loss of critical safety systems as this increases risk for staff including assaults.
“We will work with Network Rail to scrutinise how railway infrastructure coped and what actions need to be taken in the future,” he said.
ENDS
PHOTO: Network Rail Media Centre
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