The British rail industry is living through a period of profound contradiction. Ministers and operators speak the language of “modernisation,” “efficiency,” and “digital transformation,” yet the lived reality for rail workers is one of rising violence, shrinking safety budgets, eroded dignity, and a creeping institutional amnesia about the lessons written in blood across the last century of rail history.
In an article in the February Labour Research magazine ‘The railways: safe for rail workers’ —and across the testimonies of our own members—the same themes recur: assaults rising year on year, mental health neglected, earthworks left to crumble, and the lessons of Carmont already fading from managerial memory. The railways are not unsafe by accident. They are made unsafe by political choice.
This essay gathers those threads and sets out the case—our case—for a rail system that treats workers’ safety not as a cost centre but as the foundation of a functioning public service.
1. Violence Against Rail Workers: The Hidden Epidemic
The numbers alone should shame the industry.
• Assaults on rail workers rose 17% in 2022/23, with more than 3,000 incidents reported.
• Since 2019, assaults have increased by over 50%.
• Only 68% of assaults were even recorded by British Transport Police.
• Only one in four resulted in charges.
Behind each statistic is a worker who went to do their job and instead faced aggression, threats, or physical harm. Ticket office closures, lone working, and understaffing have created the perfect conditions for violence to flourish. When companies talk about “customer service improvements,” they rarely mention that the human beings delivering those services are increasingly exposed and unsupported.
Unions have fought back. The TSSA’s agreement with the Rail Delivery Group on aftercare and counselling is a step forward, but it is not enough. Body‑worn cameras help, but they are not a shield against a political climate that treats public‑facing workers as disposable shock absorbers for social frustration.
Violence is not inevitable. It is the predictable outcome of a system that prioritises cost‑cutting over human safety.
2. Carmont and the Price of Austerity
The Carmont crash of 2020—Britain’s worst rail disaster in nearly 20 years—was not an unforeseeable act of nature. It was the result of a landslip caused by heavy rain, hitting a section of track whose risks had not been properly assessed. Three people died.
The RAIB report was clear: the driver and conductor did everything possible. The failure was systemic.
Yet in the years following the crash, Network Rail’s spending on earthworks was cut by 25%.
Cuts to drainage, embankments, culverts, and monitoring systems are not abstract budget lines. They are the difference between a safe railway and another Carmont. When unions warn that lessons are being forgotten, they are not being rhetorical. They are describing a real, measurable retreat from safety.
Austerity is not a neutral policy. It is a safety hazard.
3. Lessons Forgotten: The Danger of Complacency
The TSSA has warned that the Carmont crash is already being treated as an anomaly rather than a warning. Britain’s long‑term safety record is often cited as proof that the system is fundamentally sound. But safety is not a static achievement. It is a culture—one that must be renewed, resourced, and defended.
Complacency is itself a risk factor. When budgets tighten, safety is the first thing to be reframed as “efficiency.” When institutional memory fades, the same mistakes reappear in new forms. When workers raise concerns, they are too often treated as obstacles to “progress.”
The rail industry cannot afford another era of forgetting.
4. Air Quality Underground: The Invisible Threat
While the public debates fares and timetables, another danger lurks beneath London: toxic air.
The TSSA’s Tube Air Quality Campaign has forced the issue into the open. PM2.5 particles—generated by brake dust and wheel wear—are present at levels that would be unacceptable in any other workplace. Research from Imperial College London shows these particles penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream.
Workers spend entire careers underground. The long‑term health implications are obvious, yet investment in ventilation, filtration, and cleaning remains inadequate.
The Underground is the beating heart of London. It should not be a slow‑burn occupational health crisis.
5. Mental Health: The Unspoken Cost of Rail Work
Shift work, isolation, traumatic incidents, and the constant pressure of public scrutiny take a toll. The RMT’s Mental Health Charter is a vital intervention, but it exists because employers have failed to provide the support workers need.
Mental health is not a “soft” issue. It is a safety issue. A workforce under chronic stress is a workforce at risk.
6. The Politics of Safety: Why Public Ownership Matters
Every issue above—violence, infrastructure neglect, air quality, mental health—shares a common root: a fragmented, underfunded, profit‑driven rail system.
Unions are right to demand:
• A fully funded, publicly owned railway
• Investment in infrastructure, not cuts
• Safety as a non‑negotiable principle
• A culture that remembers its history rather than repeating it
Safety is not a cost. It is the foundation of a civilised transport system.
7. A Railway Worthy of Its Workers
The railways are often described as the arteries of the nation. But arteries only function when they are cared for, maintained, and protected. The workers who keep the system running deserve dignity, safety, and respect—not rising violence, shrinking budgets, and forgotten lessons.
The Solidarity Union stands with every rail worker fighting for a safer industry. We stand with the RMT, the TSSA, and every rep who refuses to accept that danger is “part of the job.” And we stand with the public, who deserve a railway built on investment, not austerity.
A safe railway is a political choice. It is time to choose it.
