News Archive

This page lets you navigate through the archived news.

Tube recruitment 'shoddy' says union

30 Oct 2006Reacting to news that the son of Abu Hamza, who has himself been convicted of explosives crimes in Yemen, has been working on London’s tube, Keith Norman, general secretary of train drivers’ union ASLEF, said today, 'We are amazed that our members, who drive London’s tubes, could be placed in danger by shoddy recruitment practices. London Underground keeps telling us how much it depends on – and cares for - its staff. Today it has a lot of explaining to do to them – as well as to the public.

Railtrack pleads guilty to Ladbroke Grove

30 Oct 2006Railtrack - now Network Rail - today admitted its responsibility for a string of health and safety blunders which led to the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster. ASLEF leader Keith Norman has dismissed the admission as ‘totally inadequate’ and says it throws into question who should be responsible for the safety of rail infrastructure. He said the ‘casual admission of guilt’ at London's Blackfriars Crown Court justified ASLEF’s call for strengthened corporate manslaughter laws

Anti-flu disinfectant for London transport?

23 Oct 2006Transport for London (TfL) is considering the use of anti-flu disinfectants on its trains. There are reported to be plans to use the product on main line and tube trains and stations. It is currently being introduced onto the Hong Kong metro system by MTR, a company which is part of a consortium bidding for two new rail franchises - London Rail and West Midlands.

Get ahead - get a Learning Agreement

20 Oct 2006Rail Union Learning (RUL) has now signed Learning Agreements with 9 rail companies - and it is targeting others in an effort to make learning easy and accessible to all ASLEF members. At the moment there are agreements with Southern, DLR, South Eastern Trains, Metro net, Scot Rail, London Underground, Midland Mainline, South West Trains, and MerseyRail Electric.

Industrial action vote in ONE

20 Oct 2006ASLEF members in ONE have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action in a ballot announced this week. The returns show that 97% of members are prepared to take action short of a strike, and 94% have voted for strike action.

National Organiser Andy Reed accuses First Great Western of ‘draconian’ policy on SMD's

13 Oct 2006National Organiser Andy Reed today accused First Great Western of operating a ‘draconian’ policy on Specially Monitored Drivers (SMDs). He said the company operated policies that were ‘more akin to the nineteenth than the twenty-first century.’

5 dead, 10 injured in French rail crash

12 Oct 2006Five people died yesterday, reportedly including two train drivers, and more than twice that number have been injured in a head-on train collision in north-east France. A double-decker regional express travelling from Luxembourg to Nancy train collided with a goods train in Zoufftgen, in the Moselle region near the border with Luxembourg.

ASLEF wins £1.4 million for members in six months

12 Oct 2006The train drivers' union ASLEF announced today that it has, in association with Thompsons Solicitors, secured a record £1,442,360 in compensation for its members in the first six months of this year.

Planes CO2 emissions are ten times that of rail

9 Oct 2006Independent research carried out for Eurostar shows that passengers who fly between London, Paris and Brussels generate ten times more emissions of the greenhouse gas CO2. A Eurostar passenger generates enough CO2 to fill a Mini - while an airline passenger generates enough to fill a double-decker bus. The research shows that each passenger on a return flight between London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle generates 122 kilograms of CO2, compared with just 11 kilograms for a traveller on a London-Paris return journey by train.