News and Media

Here you will find the lastest ASLEF news articles. Archived articles can be found in the News Archive section in the left hand navigation bar.

You can also find recent issues of the ASLEF Journal and other ASLEF publications in the Publications section.  

Tory call for Tube strike ban

18 Mar 2010Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, said yesterday that he wants a Tory government to deliver a strike ban on London Underground rather than seek an agreement with the unions, as he had previously undertaken. ASLEF general secretary Keith Norman says the move is an attack on basic civil liberties. ‘A ban on the right to strike is a feature of the most extreme authoritarian regimes,’ Keith says. ‘It gives a dire warning of what we can expect if the Conservatives are elected.’

ASLEF High speed rail plans will help catch up

11 Mar 2010ASLEF welcomes today’s announcement of government plans to run a high-speed rail link between London and Birmingham – but feels more vision and ambition is needed to provide adequate rail services for the future. ‘Although this is a high-speed initiative, we’re still playing ‘catch-up’ with the rest of Europe,’ says general secretary Keith Norman.

Union backs level crossing driving test call

10 Mar 2010ASLEF has given its full backing to a call by Network Rail for the car driving test to include compulsory questions about level crossings. General Secretary Keith Norman says car drivers must be acutely aware of the risks they take, which last year led to 14 crashes, 13 deaths and 140 near misses at crossings.

Franchises ‘cost UK railways £25 million a year’

3 Mar 2010A question in Parliament on 3 February has revealed that the rail franchising system could be costing the industry over £25 million a year. ‘Over the last four years over £100 million that could have been used to improve our railways has been utterly wasted and lost to the industry forever by rail franchising,’ says ASLEF general secretary Keith Norman. ‘It is incredible that anyone still clings to this profligate and discredited system.’

New carriages set to arrive late

1 Mar 2010ASLEF is concerned that the Government has postponed a £7.5 billion contract to upgrade the rolling stock on the East Coast and Great Western lines following anxieties over the state of the public finances until after the election. Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has ordered an independent review of the deal for 1,400 new carriages.

£2 billion rolling stock gravy train

26 Feb 2010ASLEF has expressed dismay at the news that HSBC bank is planning to sell its rolling stock company HSBC Rail for £2 billion, possibly to a consortium of private equity bidders. The bank purchased the train leasing company for around £700 million in 1997 and owns around 4,000 trains, approximately one third of the UK’s total rolling stock.

Train crash in Belgium

18 Feb 2010The union has sent a message of support and solidarity to our sister unions in Belgium expressing our sympathy and support for them in the wake of the crash near Halle which has claimed the lives of 18 people including one of the train drivers. The other remains in a critical condition.

Tube Lines compensation rejected

25 Jan 2010An independent adjudicator has dismissed a claim by Tube Lines for a further £327 million of public funds. The Tube Lines consortium had been seeking the money for costs it has incurred arising from delays to the upgrade of the Jubilee and Northern lines.

New strikes on Eurostar announced

21 Jan 2010ASLEF remains concerned at Eurostar management's failure to seriously negotiate or talk to the union about non payment of expenses.