Jobs threat in $6 million RailCorp review

The NSW Government will fork out $6.3 million to a consulting firm for less than four months work to review RailCorp operations.

The RTBU has warned it will not tolerate any job cuts stemming from the review, and insists any savings found should be invested back into the transport system.

Hitting back at the New South Wales Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian’s comments that RailCorp was unsustainable and inefficient, the RTBU pointed out that rising costs are not due to frontline staff but the serious lack of infrastructure investment in the 150-year-old network.

Conducted over the coming months, the review will be headed by David Callahan, who as the former head of Sydney Ferries, prepared the organisation for privatisation. The union is now concerned that his appointment will put the privatisation of RailCorp back on the agenda.

The union has called for wide-ranging consultation during the review process with the RTBU and also its experienced employees who work day-to-day and understand first-hand the challenges presented by the degraded and outdated rail system.

In particular the review must focus on ways to improve the current system and investigate the key problem areas of passenger safety and cleanliness on the network. While the Transport Minister has refused to rule out job cuts, axing frontline positions would only lead to more services difficulties and frustration for passengers.