
9 July 2014
RMT Press Office
Mick Cash, RMT acting general secretary, said: "This a hopelessly inadequate report which does nothing to address the shambolic approach to train procurement in this country which almost destroyed our train building industry in the wake of the Thameslink scandal.
"The NAO report also makes no mention of the fact that new trains, including the Hitachi inter-city fleet, are designed for driver only operation solely in the interests of train company profits and regardless of the safety and service implications of axing the guards.
"The key problem is that train procurement is tied in with the fragmentation and profiteering of rail privatisation and until we bring the whole industry back under public ownership we are in danger of repeating the Thameslink and IEP fiascos which have starved our railways of the additional, modern rolling stock they desperately need .”
Ends