THE devastating human and operational cost of Network Rail’s “catastrophic” maintenance reforms were laid bare in report by RMT union today.

The Post-Implementation Review drew from more than 6,000 members’ experiences of the Modernising Maintenance programme, which halved the number of maintenance staff to save £100 million, part of the previous Tory government’s £2 billion funding cuts to the railways.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the programme was “an act of vandalism on Britain’s railway infrastructure and workforce.”