Unions oppose one driver Edinburgh-Glasgow trains

DRIVERS have threatened industrial action if ScotRail asks them to take over the control of train doors on Scotland’s flagship line.
Unions and management are in dispute over whether new trains on the Edinburgh-Glasgow line will be one-man operated. Picture: ContributedUnions and management are in dispute over whether new trains on the Edinburgh-Glasgow line will be one-man operated. Picture: Contributed
Unions and management are in dispute over whether new trains on the Edinburgh-Glasgow line will be one-man operated. Picture: Contributed

The warning from the drivers’ union Aslef comes as the company considers how new electric trains will be operated on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow line when a major upgrade is completed at the end of next year.

Five years ago, a similar move on a reopened link between the cities via Bathgate triggered a series of strikes which cancelled trains across the country.

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Conductors currently open and close doors for passengers and check tickets on the main route between Scotland’s two largest cities.

However, drivers have performed that duty on many other routes into Glasgow for 30 years.

Ticket examiners, who are paid less than conductors, make ticket checks on such trains.

Electrification of the main line is expected to see Class 380 electric trains deployed on the route initially until a brand-new fleet of Hitachi AT200 trains ­arrives. The Class 380 trains already run on lines between Glasgow, Ayrshire and Inverclyde under “driver-only operation”.

But the trains operate between Edinburgh, North Berwick and Dunbar with conductors controlling the doors. It is understood ScotRail has yet to decide who will operate the doors on the Class 380 and Hitachi AT200s on the Edinburgh-Glasgow line.

The Hitachi trains will be built with a capacity for both types of door operation.

However, a key factor in the formation of ScotRail’s closer-working “alliance” with track owner Network Rail in May was cutting the cost of operating Scotland’s railways.

Aslef said it would oppose any extension of driver-only operation by Abellio, which won a ten-year franchise to run ScotRail from April this year.

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Scotland district secretary Kevin Lindsay said: “Aslef remains committed to two-person working on all trains and will not support any attempt by Abellio to remove the conductors from any service.

Drivers and conductors work as a team to deliver a safe and efficient method of working trains.

“Therefore, if any company tries to extend driver-only operation, they will be in dispute with Aslef. If this is introduced, we would boycott these trains and ballot for industrial action.”

The 2010 dispute ended with drivers taking over door operations from conductors between Edinburgh and Bathgate, and on a new stretch of the line ­between Bathgate and Drumgelloch.

However, the unions argued that was an extension of the role already performed by drivers between Drumgelloch and Glasgow – which marks it out as different from introducing the practice to a line for the first time, such as the Edinburgh-Glasgow main line.

Mick Hogg, Scotland secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which represents conductors, said: “ScotRail plans to run services as cheaply as possible. Our position is crystal clear – we will not accept a guard [conductor] not being on a train.”

The union warnings come amid friction with ScotRail over staffing, with the operator seeking unspecified numbers of voluntary redundancies which are thought could reach at least 100.

ScotRail declined to comment about its door operation plans.