ScotRail staff members are not involved in the latest round of the RMT's industrial action however it does involve staff of Network Rail in Scotland and will therefore have a huge impact on the operator's ability to run services.
Strike action by the RMT will begin from 18.00 on Saturday the 24th of December and will be ongoing until 06.00 on Tuesday the 27th of December and is set to affect the entire rail network for Great Britain. The industrial action is due to a pay dispute with Network Rail.
ScotRail services will be affected as follows:
- Christmas Eve (Saturday the 24th of December) will see operations run as usual until around 15.00 when they will start the process of winding down for the day in order to allow for critical engineering works. No train services will operate after 18.00 except for the 18.15 Cumbernauld to Motherwell, however, some trains will still be in transit.
- Christmas Day (Sunday the 25th of December) – ScotRail will not operate any services on Christmas Day as usual.
- Boxing Day (Monday the 26th of December) will see no services operate due to the use of contingent Network Rail staff and the prioritisation of critical engineering works. ScotRail normally runs a limited service across the Strathclyde region.
- Tuesday the 27th of December will see services start later than usual with most services beginning at approximately 08.00, however, some parts of the country, such as Stirling, will see no trains operate until 17.00 and is due to the shift start times of Network Rail signallers.
- New Year's Eve (Saturday the 31st of December) will see services stop earlier than normal due to the usual Hogmanay closedown.
Services will run as usual between Wednesday the 28th of December and Friday the 30th of December.
To find out routes, frequency of service and last train times for Christmas Eve, please visit: www.scotrail.co.uk/christmas
Christmas Eve will see a number of football matches taking place and supporters attending the games are being reminded that services will be winding down from 15.00 and that it is important to plan their journey home ahead.
Details regarding the last services on New Year's Eve (Saturday the 31st of December) will be available as soon as possible.
ScotRail is in the process of altering its retail systems to include the effects of the industrial action.
Customers are urged to check with the ScotRail app or via http://scotrail.co.uk to find the most up-to-date information ahead of making a journey.
Further strike action has been announced by the RMT on the 3rd and 4th and 6th and 7th of January 2023. At present, ScotRail is planning for these dates and will provide further details as soon as possible.
David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “It's really disappointing to see more disruption across the whole Great Britain rail network as a result of the dispute between Network Rail and the RMT at a time when we need to be encouraging more people back to the railway.
“For ScotRail, this is going to mean significant disruption with last trains stopping earlier than usual on Christmas Eve, no services on Boxing Day, and later first trains on Tuesday, 27 December.
“We know this is really frustrating for everyone impacted and we're urging customers to plan ahead and check their entire journey in advance.”
