NORTHERN RAIL

That this House welcomes the fact that Northern Rail passengers are currently guaranteed a safety-critical train guard on board every Northern Rail train to assist in protecting the safety of the train and passengers, provide advice and assistance and allow disabled passengers to embark and disembark at unstaffed stations; is concerned at proposals for the Arriva Northern Rail franchise, let by the Department for Transport and jointly managed with Rail North Councils, that will end the guarantee of there being a guard on every train by introducing driver-only operation on at least 50 per cent of services; is further concerned that this has resulted in an industrial dispute between Arriva Northern Rail and the RMT union; believes that there is no need for such a dispute if Northern Rail is allowed by the Government and Rail North to reach a similar agreement to those recently reached by TransPennine Express and Scotrail which have retained guards; and calls on the Government and Rail North to act urgently to facilitate such an agreement.