
25 July 2019
RMT Press Office:
RMT mobilising for protest tomorrow to mark final day of Glasgow's Springburn Rail Depot and the betrayal of 160 years of history
RAIL UNION RMT today called for the mobilisation of the broadest possible political and public support for a protest tomorrow marking the closure of the Springburn Rail Depot – The Caley – and the political and corporate betrayal of 160 years of train building, maintenance and engineering history on the site.
The workforce and their supporters are meeting at the sheds inside the Springburn depot at 11am tomorrow and will march to the gates for a rally to mark the completion of the final project at the site with banners and flags held high.
In December last year, Gemini announced its intention to close the depot, axing nearly 200 highly-skilled jobs. The Springburn depot carries out service, maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrades on all of the ScotRail fleet. The closure means that the repairs and maintenance of Scotland’s rail stock will be carried out in England in what RMT calls an insult to the rail industry in Scotland and the sweeping away of 160 years of rail engineering history in a wanton act of industrial vandalism.
RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:
“The closure of the Springburn Rail Depot in Glasgow is an act of industrial vandalism that will not be forgotten and RMT is mobilising for the broadest possible support for tomorrow’s demonstration. We are calling for a big turn-out to ram home the message that Springburn and its history will never be erased and to demand that the option of nationalisation of our railways to stop this wanton destruction be placed centre stage.
“This is just another example of the fragmentation of the privatised rail industry where prime assets are passed from one speculative owner to another and mean that a proud railway nation like Scotland loses a key engineering resource at the stroke of a pen regardless of the consequences for jobs, training and the local economy. It is an absolute disgrace.”
Ends.