Strike action by Network Rail members of the RMT union, on Saturday 1st of October is set to cause significant disruption across Scotland’s rail network, with further strike action on the 8th of October.
The strike will see Network Rail Scotland signallers and maintenance staff, who are in safety critical roles walk out for 24 hours, meaning no trains will run north of the central belt.
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.”
On Saturday the following services will be run by Scotrail between 7:30am and 6:30pm:
- Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk High: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh to Helensburgh: two train per hour
- Glasgow to Hamilton/Larkhall: two trains per hour
- Glasgow to Lanark: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh to Glasgow via Shotts: one train per hour
- Edinburgh to Cowdenbeath: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh to Tweedbank: two trains per hour
- Edinburgh to Larbert: one train per hour
- Glasgow Queen Street to Larbert: one train per hour
- Glasgow Queen Street to Falkirk Grahamston: one train per hour
- Milngavie to Springburn: two trains per hour.
Due to the very limited-service people are being advised to only travel if absolutely necessary and anyone who needs to travel should expect disruption and plan ahead.
There is also expect disruption on the evening of Friday 30th of September and the morning of Sunday 2nd October, caused by the closing and reopening of signal boxes at different times across the country.
There will also be strike action by Network Rail safe on the 8th of September, with plans being finalised for Scotrail services, while Scotrail staff who are members of the RMT union will be striking on the 10th of October, with plans again still being finalised.
For customers who will not be able to make their journey as planned on days affected by strike action, Traveline Scotland’s Journey Planner tool, can provide information on alternative forms of public transport.
To keep up with the latest updates check https://www.scotrail.co.uk/plan-your-journey/passenger-disruption/industrial-action or follow ScotRail on Twitter for updates.