RAIL unions warned yesterday of a “scandalous” threat to axe thousands of jobs through automation after a Whitehallbacked blueprint for “intelligent trains” was launched.

The Rail Capability Plan, which has the support of the Department for Transport (DfT), says the automation of trains could “transition the role of railway staff from direct control and operation to supervision.”

This could “drive down operational expense,” the plan says.

The DfT has launched an “innovation competition offering £9 million “to support UK businesses in developing technological solutions for the railway.”

But rail union RMT argued that it was evidence that ministers were “working hand in glove with the private train operators” to “axe thousands of jobs across the industry, hammer down on safety and run services on the cheap in the name of fatter profits.”

The union’s general secretary Mick Cash stormed: “The rail capability plan sounds innocuous enough but is, in fact, a blueprint for automation with the long-term objective of a faceless railway where passengers are left to fend for themselves without any human contact whatsoever.

“It is scandalous that this whole drive towards the faceless railway is being smuggled through without any serious scrutiny whatsoever.”

Labour’s shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald told the Star: “New technologies are bound to change how services are run, but ‘modernisation’ shouldn’t be used as a pretext for driving down standards in order to boost the coffers of train operating companies.”

London’s Docklands Light Railway and, to a lesser extent, some Underground lines already use some automation.

All remain staffed, but former London mayor Boris Johnson previously trumpeted driverless trains as a way to weaken union influence.

A DfT spokesman said: “Our railways are run by hard-working people who are passionate about the services they operate and we have been clear we will need more people, not fewer, as we cope with rapid growth.

“Passenger numbers have more than doubled over the past 20 years and that is why we are investing record amounts.

“We want to see our rail network brought into the 21st century and technology has a role to play in helping us deliver modernised, safe, effective and comfortable services.”