ScotRail will introduce a temporary timetable on Falkirk services from Monday in response to disruption currently affecting the railways.
The train operators has blamed the change on the ongoing impact of a significant number of drivers declining to make themselves overtime, following an announcement by the drivers’ union ASLEF that it will ballot for industrial action over pay.
There will be significantly less services on the Glasgow - Edinburgh via Falkirk High line, and particularly in the evenings, on the new altered Monday to Friday timetable.
And, the Glasgow Queen St – Falkirk Grahamston via Cumbernauld line will stop significantly earlier in the evenings.
Temporary timetables for Saturdays currently in place will be broadly similar to the Monday to Friday timetable, as well as timetables for Sundays.
The train operator said it’s right to make these changes to provide greater certainty for customers as the current level of cancellations "is not sustainable for customers and colleagues".
ScotRail has relied on drivers working overtime or on their rest days and in 2019, it committed to employing more drivers to phase out the reliance on this practice, however, the pandemic meant that driver training was significantly delayed.
ScotRail is still awaiting formal notification from ASLEF and the RMT on the details of the ballots of its members for industrial action and it says it is disappointed to find itself at this stage with both trade unions, despite a very good offer being made.
David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “We are very sorry to customers for the disruption of recent days. We know what customers want more than anything is certainty and reliability, which is why we are introducing a temporary timetable.
“We want to resolve this dispute with the trade unions and move forward together to provide the safest, greenest, and most reliable railway we can for Scotland. We remain open to further talks with the trade unions.
“We’re asking customers to check their journey on our website, mobile app, and through our social media channels as train times will have changed.”
The temporary timetable for Monday – Friday can be viewed online at scotrail.co.uk/timetable-update
