The following column was first published in The Daily Telegraph on the 10 January, 2017. To see the original story click here.
Starting today – and continuing over the next two weeks – around 300,000 passengers will once again see their Southern Rail services grind to a halt as militant trade unions resume strikes. Our economy will suffer with commuters stuck at home; job interviews and medical appointments will be missed; plans to see family and friends will be cancelled.
The ASLEF and RMT unions object to the introduction of driver-only operation (DOO) on new trains, where the driver closes the train doors, releasing train guards (who used to push the button) to help passengers. The union barons – both backers of Corbyn’s Labour Party – oppose the modernisation of Britain’s rail network, even where the changes are incremental and the technology proven: DOO has worked successfully on British trains for the last 30 years and on 30% of today’s rail network, including on the London Underground and Thameslink services (which use the same route that’s being boycotted this week). DOO is safe too, as the Office of Rail and Road, the safety watchdog, confirmed last Thursday.
The Government has responded decisively to the unions’ Luddite approach. From brokering talks at the conciliation service ACAS to working with the coach industry to provide emergency bus links on strike days, no stone has been left unturned.
These immediate measures are welcome. But in the long-term, only by future-proofing our transport system, including rail, can we truly protect passengers from trade unions determined to take us back to the Dark Ages.
We must continue – and accelerate – our adoption of the new technologies that are transforming societies, economies and transport systems around the world. Often dubbed the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” (4IR), new technologies powered by automation, digitisation, “Big Data” and artificial intelligence can help stamp out the 1970s-strike culture that is now thankfully absent from other sectors of economic life. Doing so will mean control of key transport infrastructure like trains will no longer be concentrated in the hands of a few union barons, but dispersed amongst a wider network of managers assisted by digital tools, robotics and other new technologies. The result: safer, more reliable services that can’t be held to ransom by the unions, plus new jobs and more innovation.
Under Chris Grayling’s leadership, Britain’s rail system – and wider transport network – is already modernising at a world-class pace. Southern’s new DOO trains are themselves part of the Government’s £50bn rail upgrade programme, ensuring a Victorian technology is fit for a modern, 4IR-enabled economy. Across Britain, the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and its member train operators are already implementing new technologies that will future proof our railways. For example, on DOO services, such as Gatwick Express, drivers already close the doors, meaning the recently introduced On-Board Supervisor (OBS) role is now entirely focused on helping passengers with ticketing and journey information. As the 4IR accelerates, all trains are likely to become driverless, like the automated Docklands Light Railway (DLR) which has served London’s financial district since the 1980s.
New 4IR technologies such as automation and digitisation don’t destroy transport jobs, but create new jobs and upskill existing roles. No jobs or pay are being cut in the Southern Rail dispute, for example. And looking ahead, the RDG forecasts around 100,000 new jobs in “a wider range of interesting roles” such as OBSs will be created in rail and its supply chain over the next decade as modernisation accelerates. They foresee a 21st century rail workforce that is digitally literate and managing “Big Data”, with new signalling, ticketing and traffic management systems all producing continuous flows of data. Maintenance technicians will interpret big datasets of diagnostic information instead of inspecting track in the rain. Instead of manually pulling levers, tomorrow’s signalling engineers will write code and algorithms. Passengers no longer need to visit a manned ticket office to buy paper fares when digital tickets on smartphones will be the new normal.
As industries upskill, and new technologically-enabled roles emerge, we will rely less on union-controlled labour to pull levers, push buttons, sell tickets, and eventually drive trains. Union power diminishes as we’ve witnessed in other sectors, and their ability to bring our transport system to a standstill withers. Beyond rail, this trend is already visible elsewhere as the 4IR transforms transport. Our Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) is delivering a £200M research programme so we become world leaders in artificial intelligence-powered “driverless cars,” immune from union control. The upcoming Modern Transport Bill will encourage further investment in this new technology.
From farming mechanisation to the City’s “Big Bang”, Britain has always adopted a pro-innovation approach to technological advances, embracing innovation to dilute the power of vested interests and closed-shop labour in favour of consumers. We soon realised the folly of requiring drivers of early cars to be preceded by a man carrying a red flag. We must adopt the same, forward-thinking approach when it comes using 4IR technologies to help our transport system race ahead, leaving militant strike culture in the 1970s-slow lane where it belongs.
Alan Mak is Conservative MP for Havant. His report on the Fourth Industrial Revolution & Britain’s new Industrial Strategy is available online.