Ministers accused over lost rail jobs in region

The Department for Transport (DfT) could have made a Railway Administration Order that would have offered protection to 1,100 Jarvis staff now facing redundancy after track renewal work was cut back.

But the DfT said the orders were not to be used to protect failed companies and as the contracts were not of strategic importance, the job losses "will not have an adverse impact on essential railway activity".

It is now feared the staff will leave the York-based firm and look for jobs abroad, taking away vital skills needed for future work on existing lines as well as for building the new high speed rail routes.

Yorkshire MPs Hugh Bayley and John Grogan are calling for the Government to intervene, arguing that while the immediate track renewal work may not be of strategic importance, the skills of the engineers are.

Jarvis ran into difficulties after Network Rail cut back on its track renewal programme and regional politicians are also calling for a meeting with Network Rail chief executive Iain Coucher.

Mr Bayley, Labour MP for City of York said: "They key point is whether we should regard the skills of the workforce in laying track as a strategic asset and I believe they are.

"Network Rail have decided to cut back on the volume of work they are doing on track renewal and if you cut back on the quantity of this work you put companies like Jarvis at risk, and lose the skills of the staff they employ.

"That means when you come to ramp up the amount of renewal work in the future – such as for high speed rail – you have a problem."

Last year 450 staff at Jarvis lost their jobs and Mr Bayley said the majority were now working abroad.

"These people are now scattered around the globe, most found work in the Gulf," he said. "If the current workforce are not quickly re-engaged they will also move away and there will be no one around in a few years time when they are desperately needed."

Administrators from Deloitte announced the job cuts this week and said it was not possible for three Jarvis companies to continue trading in the absence of further funding.

Mr Grogan, Labour MP for Selby, is petitioning Transport Secretary Lord Adonis and Yorkshire Minister Rosie Winterton in the hope of preventing at least some of the losses from the head office in York and other sites including Doncaster and Leeds.

He said: "The Government could have made a Railway Administration Order making Jarvis Rail a protected company.

"The duties of the railway administrator would have been to try and give future contracts to those 1,100 people.

"Along with others I am urging the Government to make the order, everyone who was working for Jarvis Rail could have been paid this weekend.

"The Department for Transport said that the contracts were not of strategic importance and that is why they did not make the order. I wish they had."

Union leaders have also called on the Government to launch a "last-ditch" rescue package and claimed Network Rail had failed to give assurances about Jarvis contracts continuing.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers' Union warned that the "massive financial squeeze" could endanger safety and raised the spectre of the fatal Hatfield and Potters Bar crashes.

A DfT spokeswoman said: "Railway Administration Orders are available to the Government as a means to ensure that essential railway activity can be continued. They are not available as a means of preserving a particular company.

"We have received assurances from Network Rail that it is not necessary for the Government to seek an order as Jarvis's failure will not have an adverse impact on essential railway activity".