Network Rail intends to cull hundreds more jobs on top of the 1,800 maintenance jobs highlighted for the chop at the end of last month, the BBC has reported.
Altogether, 2,549 jobs are likely to be axed but the additional losses include sub-contractors and do not consitute permanent jobs, the rail operator said.
The firm, which employs 33,000 people across the country, said the cuts are necessary as its budget for the next five years has been trimmed by £4bn.
Positions are expected to go by April 2011 and the company said it hoped to avoid any compulsory redundancies.
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A statement from rail union RMT said: “These shocking figures now expose the full extent of the jobs massacre that’s being planned by Network Rail and would leave essential maintenance works cut to ribbons with potentially lethal consequences for the travelling public.”
But a Network Rail spokesman said: “Safety would never be compromised as Network Rail’s number one job is to provide a safe, reliable and punctual railway. The RMT is spouting its usual typical scaremongering nonsense.”
