UK Rail Strike Threatens Container Shipments

The movement of ocean containers to and from British ports faces severe disruption during a four-day nationwide rail strike next week.

Rail signalers and track maintenance workers are due to walk off the job on April 6 in the first national rail strike since 1994 in separate disputes over job cuts and changes in working practices.

The twin strikes are expected to halt up to 80 percent of train services, and passenger commuter trains are expected to have priority over freight services.

While some containers can be switched at short notice to trucks, the strike will heavily impact the movement of boxes at major ports which have shifted container transport from road to rail in recent years to avoid congestion at terminals.

Network Rail, the state-owned company that manages the rail infrastructure, will go to court April 1 to seek an injunction forcing the RMT and TSSA transport unions to call off the stoppages.

Network Rail has accused the RMT union, which represents the 5,800 signalers, of balloting workers who do not exist.

The company said the union had balloted eleven signal boxes which no longer exist, including one that was closed in 1995 and another which burnt down in 2009.

Negotiations are continuing today to try to resolve the disputes.

(Source: Transport Weekly)