RMT on scrapped plans to axe Cross Country rail services

RMT on scrapped plans to axe Cross Country rail services

12 April 2017

RMT Press Office:

RMT says scrapped plans to axe Cross Country rail services reinforce case for public ownership of rail.

RAIL UNION RMT today reissued the call for public ownership of the railway after it emerged that cash-led plans to reduce Cross Country train services to and from the north-east of Scotland have been scrapped but only after a campaign of public pressure and resistance.

The company confirmed it has withdrawn proposed timetable changes that would have resulted in four of the six services operating between Aberdeen and Edinburgh being cut from December.

RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said:

“These routes should never have been under threat in the first place. This was yet again the case of a private train operator looking to maximise their profits at the expense of public service. It was only public pressure that blocked these plans.

“This whole episode reinforces the case for our railways to be run as a public service under public ownership where the threat of routes and timetables being ripped up to boost shareholder returns is consigned to the dustbin of history.”

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