Rail strike latest Sunday April 4th

Sunday, April 4th

Following action by Network Rail in the courts, the strike has been postponed until the  RMT union has had the chance to consider it’s options. Bob Crow, the union leader, has said that they will probably re-ballot their members once the issues raised by Network Rail in their court action concerning the union membership are resolved.

METRO has sent the following message about the potential rail strike next week

Rail Industrial Action

Network Rail signalling staff belonging to the RMT and TSSA trade unions
have announced that they plan to take industrial action from Tuesday 6
April 2010 to Friday 9 April 2010.

For further details please visit www.nationalrail.co.uk/dispute where
information from all train companies will be available in the event
industrial action takes place.

TravelAdvice

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The phantom sounds

Some travellers report that they have heard the odd announcement through the speakers at Slaithwaite  and Marsden, others wonder whether after 6 months now might be the time when Northern Rail can afford to buy new batteries. One might not mind too much, but timekeeping seems to be slipping again, one never knows when the train might turn up, if at all.

One really has to wonder if  SERCO and it’s partner company Netherlands Rail are fit for purpose. But perhaps the successor to Lord Adonis will have fresh ideas about how to run a railway. Meanwhile SERCO posts even higher profits in it’s recent accounts for the financial year 2009. The companies profits rose by 34% to £194.7 million.

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High Speed or just getting there

The following is extracted from the Guardian Letters of Saturday March 13th 2010. One feels that the author could be living in Marsden or Slaithwaite rather than Littleborough. What use is a high speed train if one cannot get to it, because the local service is so poor?

• Before everyone gets even more excited about the high-speed rail link, shouldn’t the government be looking at improving the medium-speed rail links? The service on the transpennine Calderdale line, which serves Leeds and Manchester, and Bradford and Halifax and the surrounding conurbations, is erratic and infrequent. The engines and coaches, which are often dirty, are secondhand. At the local station, you cannot access the platforms if you have a pram or wheelchair and there is no shelter – imagine that in the recent Pennine winter when trains were frequently late or cancelled. Manchester Victoria station would take the prize for the worst city station in the UK. Overcrowding this winter was at times almost unbearable; the trains are nicknamed the sardine trains. Commuters often choose to go by car because the service is so unreliable. If there is to be a more attractive rail service, it should start with the here and now.

Rae Street

Littleborough, Lancashire

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A message from the Friends of Slaithwaite Station

Hi there

For those of you who haven’t been to Slaithwaite station today or yesterday there is now a metal bench on the Huddersfield facing side.  We – we being the South Pennines Rail Partnership – have been running a young people’s project with funding from the Colne Valley Area Committee.  The project has involved meeting with some local young people over a few months, taking them on some visits to stations with artwork and the bench has been designed with them and made by local firm, Steel Dreams.

We had a good little launch event yesterday with a lot of people there including six of the young people who had participated in the project.  Thanks very much to all of you who came along.  There’ll be an article and picture in the Examiner.

It’s quite likely that graffiti and/or damage will happen – we all need to keep an eye on it so if you notice any damage etc please can you ring Steel Dreams – they’ve got an anti-graffiti kit now and have kindly said they will sort it out – their number is 841642 – so do ring them.  They live up at Hill Top and have their workshop on the canal so go past the station regularly.

Do continue to ring the police about any illegal activities/anti-social behaviour etc at or near the station.

BTP free number 0800 40 50 40

Local neighbourhood police – 436855

There is more funding that Kirklees Community Safety Officer, Helen Simpson, successfully applied for and which is going to go towards making planters so we plan to involve the young people at the new youth centre – The Basement – when it opens – due in March.

Thanks a lot and I’ll send out a couple of pics from today as soon as I get some.

Hope you like the bench!

Cheers

Jean

15 2 10

Slaithwaite Station 15 2 10 revised

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