Next Monday, 10th October, ScotRail train services will be severely disrupted due to strike action by the RMT union.
There will also be disruption to services on the days before 10th October because of strike action by RMT members of Network Rail. On 10th October, services will only operate on the following routes, and with only a limited service between 07.30 and 18.30:
- Milngavie – Edinburgh Waverley (half-hourly service);
- Glasgow Central – Lanark (hourly service);
- Glasgow Central – Larkhall (hourly service).
The dispute is separate from the RMT's dispute with Network Rail, which has disrupted train elsewhere on the railway network since July. Yesterday, Thursday, 6th October, the RMT rejected the latest improved pay offer that ScotRail had tabled in a bid to resolve the dispute and avert strike action.
Tomorrow, Saturday, 8th October, there will be a 24-hour strike across the Great Britain railway network by Network Rail employees who are members of the RMT union because of a separate pay dispute. It will therefore not be possible for ScotRail to run most of its services tomorrow because many of the Network Rail employees on strike occupy safety-critical roles.
There will be further disruption to ScotRail services on Sunday, 9th October because signal boxes across the country will be re-opening at different times throughout the day.
Details of how the strike action will affect ScotRail services can be found on the ScotRail website at www.scotrail.co.uk/strike.
Further industrial action short of a strike has been called for by the RMT from Friday, 14th October. In that action, RMT general grades members will impose an overtime and rest day working ban that will have some impact on ScotRail services until the dispute is resolved. A large proportion of ScotRail employees are members of the RMT, including many conductors, ticket examiners, hospitality, station staff (including train dispatch), engineering depot staff, train presentation, supervisors, resource co-ordinators, and CCTV operators.
Phil Campbell, ScotRail Head of Customer Operations, said:
“We're really disappointed that the dispute with the RMT has reached this outcome, given the strength of the improved pay offer ScotRail made.
“This strike action does nothing for the railway's recovery at this fragile time. It will severely impact our customers and it will also cost our staff through lost wages.
“Due to the large number of ScotRail staff who are members of the RMT, ScotRail customers should expect significant disruption to services on Monday, 10 October, as we won't be able to operate the vast majority of our services.
“We're advising customers to seek alternative means of transport and to only travel if they really need to on Monday, 10 October.
“We remain open to resolving this dispute.”
About time something was done about strikes.Even Thatcher did something about them!