13 June 2016
RMT Press Office
RMT on "truly terrifying" tube overcrowding warnings in today's Sunday Times
RMT on projections in the Sunday Times today that surging tube numbers will mean more than four passengers per square meter at 50 of the 62 zone one stations within fifteen years.
Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary, said;
"These projections are truly terrifying and require urgent action if we are to avoid a lethal cocktail of gridlock and extreme passenger danger right across the tube network. Stations and platforms are already being closed on a routine basis on the quiet and those emergency measures are set to become commonplace.
"Anyone who has used major hubs like Kings Cross, Victoria and Oxford Circus at peak times knows that capacity on trains, platforms and escalators is already at breaking point and it is simply pure luck that there hasn't been a major disaster. The risks to passengers at the Platform/Train interface are growing by the day.
"Axing station staff jobs against this background is criminally irresponsible and RMT is calling on the new Mayor Sadiq Khan to reverse the cuts and to instruct his officials to start taking the union safety warnings seriously.
"These surging passenger numbers are compromising safety on both tube and mainline rail services and hacking back on safety-critical staff represents a lethal gamble by those calling the shots. Those cuts must be reversed before we have a major tragedy on our hands. "
Unity House
Tel: 020 7387 4771
Email: