First Minister Mark Drakeford made the accusations against Network Rail during his Question time yesterday.
Network Rail were accused of sending Welsh train staff to England to help run the rail system while the strikes are on over the next few days during First ministers questions yesterday Tuesday, June 21. They have since denied the accusations.
Welsh Conservative Leader Andrew RT Davies’ queried if the First Minister supported the rail strikes, he responded: “There are no strikes in Wales, there is no dispute between Transport for Wales and the trade union where I am responsible for these things.”
The First Minister continued: “Let me explain to the leader of the opposition why trains aren’t running in Wales. It’s because his government has created a dispute with Network Rail, and Network Rail have removed some of the staff who could have been available to make trains run in Wales in order to keep trains running in England.
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“I wonder if he supports that measure which was a decision of his government to deny you people in Wales the opportunity to travel where there is no dispute, by removing those workers to look after, which clearly are for them a higher priority than Welsh citizens will ever be.”
However, Network Rail has since responded to these claims, telling the BBC: “No Network Rail staff have been redeployed from Wales to England during this industrial action.
“We’re continuing to work with our partners at Transport for Wales and other train operators to keep passengers moving where we can.”
Disruption to vast majority of rail routes in Wales is expected, with no services on Tuesday, June 21, Thursday, June 23 and Saturday, June 25 because of the walkout by members of the RMT union working for Network Rail.
This could have a knock on effect with the days that follow.