Network Rail to cut about 1,500 jobs

LONDON (Reuters) - Rail operator Network Rail plans to cut around 1,500 maintenance jobs as part of a national cost cutting programme.

The company, which runs and maintains the country's railways and its largest train stations, will make around half of the cuts on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), the RMT union said on Wednesday.

"Detailed information received by RMT has confirmed that 1,448 jobs on Network Rail maintenance have now been identified for the axe and 650 of those posts are on the West Coast Main Line (WCML)," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said in a statement.

The WCML franchise is operated by Virgin Trains and is the busiest route on the entire UK system.

"We are continuing with our discussions on our plans with our people and their union representatives, and no final decisions have been made," Network Rail said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Network Rail, which currently has a maintenance workforce of around 16,000, has previously said it wants to reduce permanent employee numbers and agency contractor staff to slash costs.

(Reporting by Rhys Jones, editing by Julie Crust)