Transport secretary Chris Grayling says he is powerless to intervene in the dispute between Govia Thameslink, which operates the Southern Railway franchise, and the unions RMT and Aslef, whose strikes over proposals for Driver Only Operation have brought misery to passengers over a period of many months. I am not convinced. Whatever the law says, it is surely within the Government’s power to pass new legislation making it an offence for railway workers to strike, or to allow the Government to seize control of a strike-bound railway service.
There is, however, an even better way for Grayling to spend his time: he should make public money available to any railway company which wants to invest in equipment which renders not only the guards redundant but the drivers, too.
The main role of guards became redundant in the 1860s when improvements in signalling meant that, in the event of their train breaking down, they no longer had to run back down the line and wave a flag to prevent a following train crashing into its rear.
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