Telegraph online 4 March 2007
Only weeks before the fatal Cumbrian rail crash, Network Rail was struggling to cope with a backlog of repairs, the largest rail union said last night.
Virgin rail crash in Cumbria: Network rail resources Network Rail denies there was a reduction in maintenance personnel.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union blames the crisis on a failure by Network Rail to fill vacancies over two years - resulting in a 10 per cent cut in "front-line" technicians and track workers.
With numbers down on the 400 staff the RMT believes are needed, it says the backlog of essential maintenance work in the North-West mounted.
An RMT spokesman, John Tilley, said: "Network Rail are running at what they call deficit manning levels as the norm. The result is that the maintenance people are so stretched, and a backlog has been created."
Network Rail denied that there had been any reduction in the number of maintenance personnel or that a significant backlog had developed.
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A spokesman said: "We are making efficiency savings of 31 per cent between 2004 and 2009. There may be a couple of vacancies in the North-West, but this is not a picture I recognise. I am not aware of any particular staffing issues and there is no national policy of natural wastage. We have a to-do list, but nothing I would recognise as a backlog."
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