Taxpayer to foot £32m bill of South Western Railway strikes, union claims
Troubled train firm South Western Railway (SWR) is set to receive more than £30m from the taxpayer over the loss of work days to strike action, it has been claimed.
The RMT rail union, which will strike on SWR from tomorrow through to Monday, said the government will hand the firm £32m to compensate it for any revenue it might lose to the industrial action, which it has called in a dispute over the role of guards on trains.
Read more: South Western Railway to be hit by four days of strikes
The RMT strike kicks off from one minute past midnight tomorrow to one minute to midnight on Monday.
Last month Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey asked the new transport secretary, Grant Shapps, what advice his department had given to the train firm on what they could expect to receive for revenue lost to strike days.
Shapps responded by saying the information was subject to commercial confidentiality.
RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “Passengers will be outraged to know that South Western Railway will be paid by ministers even when they don’t run trains on strike days.
“Despite repeated ministerial cover ups rail bosses are now openly bragging that they will be receiving a tax payer funded strike bailout, which we estimate to be £32m to date or the equivalent of a 3.4 per cent percent annual fare cut for South Western Railway passengers.”
The Department for Transport (DfT) has been approached for comment.
A SWR spokesperson said: “Every franchise has mechanisms built in to discuss changes to circumstances with the DfT and SWR is no exception.”
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SWR warned that it would be running over half of its normal timetable for the four days of strike action and that rail replacement services will be in place where possible.
It said it would also try to introduce extra services on the affected days.