Metronet engineering jobs in jeopardy

A reorganisation of frontline maintenance work on Metronet's Tube concession could see a cut in the number of engineers the consortium employs.

Engineers previously involved in project managing the frontline will be seconded to Metronet's supply chain to streamline the management of maintenance.

Metronet chief executive Rod Hoare told CJ: "We consider maintenance to be our frontline business and we want to boost that business. We are undertaking a reorganisation to make that happen in which some of the engineers involved in maintenance will be offered secondments to our supply chain, rather than project manage the work done by our supply chain. This will allow engineers to support in much more detail the asset maintained capital programme."

Hoare said some engineers would be lost in the reorganisation, but declined to say how many. "A lot of these are consultants and agency people that were never directly employed by London Underground," he said.

There are no plans to cut maintenance staff, he said. "These are our frontline troops. We want to bolster that area."

Plans are also afoot to introduce new working methods. "We will be using the experience of the maintenance teams to change methods of work."

Hoare said Metronet's plans to cut 600 of the 5,000 staff it inherited from London Underground would focus on the administrative staff.