There will be significant disruption to train services in Scotland tomorrow, Saturday, 1st, and next Saturday, 8th October due to strike action by Network Rail staff who are members of the RMT.
Although the dispute does not directly involve ScotRail staff, it will have a major impact on services as RMT's action involves Network Rail staff in Scotland, many of whom occupy safety-critical roles.
On the strike days, ScotRail will operate a similar service level to the previous strikes on 18th and 20th August, with the addition of one train per hour between Edinburgh Waverley and Larbert, and Fife services extending from Inverkeithing to Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath.
Services will operate on 11 routes across the Central Belt, Fife, and the Borders between the hours of 07.30 and 18.30.
The routes and frequency of service which will be in operation are:
- Edinburgh Waverley – Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – Helensburgh Central: two trains per hour
- Glasgow Central – Hamilton/Larkhall: two trains per hour
- Glasgow Central – Lanark: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – Glasgow Central via Shotts: one train per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – Cowdenbeath: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – Tweedbank: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh Waverley – Larbert: one train per hour
- Glasgow Queen Street – Larbert: one train per hour
- Glasgow Queen Street – Falkirk Grahamston: one train per hour
- Milngavie – Springburn: two trains per hour
Passengers are advised that the final services will depart well before 18.30, so customers should plan ahead and ensure they know when their last train will depart. The latest information can be obtained from the ScotRail app or scotrail.co.uk
Edinburgh to North Berwick services, which had run on previous strike days, will not run due to planned engineering works along the route.
ScotRail is in the process of updating its retail systems to take account of the effect of strike action, and customers should visit www.scotrail.co.uk/strike for more information.
Disruption to services will not be confined to the days of strike action but will also impact the following days, Sunday, 2nd and Sunday, 9th October caused by signal boxes reopening at different times across the country.
As part of a pay dispute with ScotRail, the RMT trade union has also announced plans for strike action on Monday, 10th October. ScotRail is currently working on contingency plans for services on that day and will provide updated information as soon as the plans are finalised.
David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “It's really disappointing to see more widespread disruption across the whole Great Britain rail network at a time when we need to be encouraging more people back to the railway.
“For ScotRail, it's going to mean that we won't be able to operate the vast majority of our services, which we know will be really frustrating for our customers.
“ScotRail customers should expect significant disruption to services on Saturday, 1 October and Saturday, 8 October, as well as on the following days.
“We're advising customers to seek alternative means of transport and to only travel if they really need to on the day of strike action. Customers should check your journey in advance to make sure your train is running if you're travelling on the day following strike action, Sunday, 2 October and Sunday, 9 October.”
