Rail passengers have been warned to expect disruption from Bonfire Night amid a fresh wave of ScotRail strikes.
Workers have vowed to town their tools during three days of action over an increasingly bitter dispute over pay and working conditions. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union who are Network Rail employees will walk out on Saturday, November 5, Monday, November 7 and Wednesday, November 9.
The action is expected to restrict most services in the central belt as most trains will run only twice per the hour.
David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “Once again, it’s really disappointing to see the dispute between Network Rail and the RMT result in 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 strike days, as well as on the days after industrial action. We’re advising customers to seek alternative means of transport and to only travel if you really need to on the days of strike action.
“Customers should check your journey in advance to make sure your train is running if you’re travelling on one of the days following strike action.”
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The dishonesty of Network Rail bosses has reached a new low in this national rail dispute. On the one hand they were telling our negotiators that they were prepared to do a deal, while planning to torpedo negotiations by imposing unacceptable changes to our members’ terms and conditions.
“Our members are livid with these duplicitous tactics, and they will now respond in kind with sustained strike action.”
ScotRail will operate the following services on strike days:
- Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High: two trains per hour;
- Edinburgh Waverley to Helensburgh Central: two trains per hour (on November 5 this will operate Edinburgh Waverley to Dalmuir only due to pre-planned engineering works);
- Glasgow Central to Hamilton/Larkhall: two trains per hour;
- Glasgow Central to Lanark: two trains per hour;
- Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Central via Shotts: one train per hour;
- Edinburgh Waverley to Cowdenbeath: two trains per hour;
- Edinburgh Waverley to Tweedbank: two trains per hour;
- Edinburgh Waverley 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.
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