Northern rail strikes: Greater Manchester and Liverpool mayors call for end to RMT walkouts

‘We cannot accept a situation of trains with no guard stopping at remote unstaffed stations,’ said Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram

Front line: politicians are heavily involved in the row over Northern (Getty/iStock)

As tens of thousands of commuters face widespread cancellations because of the latest strike by members of the RMT working for Northern rail, the mayors of Manchester and Liverpool have called on the union and the train operator to start talking.

Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, and Steve Rotheram, mayor for the Liverpool City Region, said: “Passengers here are already suffering from unacceptable levels of disruption caused by the emergency timetable.

“Some people are already under real pressure at work due to the failures of the rail industry and three days of industrial action this week could make their situation much worse.

“With that in mind, we today call on the RMT to reconsider their industrial action planned for later this week and, in return, we will continue to press for the establishment of a fair process to find a resolution.”

Both mayors have sided with the union in its demand to keep guards on all trains, saying: “There are many rail stations that are unstaffed for all or part of the day and have poor levels of access for disabled people, older people and young families. That's why we believe there is a strong case to keep a guard on our trains.

“Ultimately, we cannot accept a situation of trains with no guard stopping at remote unstaffed stations, with accessibility challenges. That will only serve to further reduce public confidence in our failing rail services.”

The RMT general secretary, Mick Cash, said: “Clearly this is a significant intervention from Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram and shows that RMT’s campaign to keep a guard on Northern Rail trains is pulling in growing and powerful levels of political support.

“That is a tribute to RMT members who have not flinched in the fight for safety and accessibility on Northern trains for well over a year now. It comes after the Labour leadership gave unequivocal statements in support of RMT’s guard guarantee campaign.”

The train operator said: ”Our plans will see staff more visible and available than ever before on trains and at stations. We want to keep a second person on many of our services and, at some locations, we may choose to staff the station to give better customer support.

“We want to talk about modernising with RMT, guaranteeing jobs and pay for our 1,300 conductors for at least the next eight years, until the end of our franchise. The more strike action continues the harder it is for Northern to give long-term assurances and commitments.”

Separately, a leading rail commentator has criticised Mr Burnham for “self-serving political grandstanding” over the botched introduction of new timetables on Northern.

Nigel Harris, managing editor of Rail magazine, said the Greater Manchester mayor had been “deeply complicit in creating or worsening the long-standing problems that now blight the North’s railways” while chief secretary to the Treasury in 2007-8.

“The Labour government’s appalling so-called steady state ‘invest nothing, do nothing’ Northern franchise of 2004 is in large part responsible for the problems he failed to do anything about when he could have done so.”

Last month Mr Burnham demanded renationalisation of the railways, saying: “This fragmented, privatised rail system simply isn’t capable of providing a decent service to the public.

“The case for renationalisation in my view has been well and truly made.”

The strike has gone ahead as planned, with the train operator telling passengers: “The majority of available trains will operate between 7am and 7pm as Northern focus on running as many trains as they can to get you into work and home again.”

A further strike is expected on Saturday.