ScotRail have issued a major travel warning ahead of rail strikes, set to impact Edinburgh services.
A new wave of strikes from the Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers (RMT) have been confirmed following a dispute over pay, terms and conditions and working conditions. In June, Network Rail staff walked out, causing the biggest rail disruption in decades and majority of trains came to a standstill across the UK, including Scotland.
While ScotRail staff are not part of this strike, Network Rail Scotland staff are and a knock-on-effect will be had as signallers and maintenance staff, who are in safety-critical roles, will be on strike.
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ScotRail have warned customers to plan ahead and expect severe disruption with only a five services running throughout the whole of Scotland. These train services will be running only across the central belt.
When are the train strikes
Network Rail members of the RMT will be striking on July 27, and August 18 and 20.
ScotRail warns: "On the evening before (Tuesday July 26), and the morning after (Thursday July 28) the strike action there will be disruption caused by the closing and reopening of signal boxes at different times across the country."
Services affected by the strikes
On July 27, services will only run from 7.30am and 6.30pm on 27 July. Limited trains will leave Edinburgh Waverley.
Trains running on July 27 across the central belt, including Edinburgh;
- Edinburgh – Glasgow via Falkirk High : two trains per hour
- Edinburgh – Bathgate : two trains per hour
- Glasgow – Hamilton/Larkhall : two trains per hour
- Glasgow – Lanark : two trains per hour
- Edinburgh – Glasgow via Shotts : one train per hour
On July 26, as it stands, the following services from Edinburgh Waverley will be cancelled. You can see the full list here.
- 11.07pm from Edinburgh to Motherwell.
- 11.38pm Edinburgh to Bathgate
- 11.56pm Edinburgh to Bathgate
In the wake of the strike, on July 28, major disruption is expected and timetables across Scotland have been amended with a number of journeys terminating at earlier stops and 37 services from Edinburgh cancelled. The affected services are in the morning, before midday. You can see the full list here.
The amended timetable for the strikes in August has yet to be confirmed. ScotRail is urging people only to travel by train during the strike period if absolutely necessary.
They add: "We advise you to only travel if necessary during the period that industrial action is taking place.
"If you have already purchased a ticket and your journey is affected by the industrial action on July 27, you can claim a full refund on unused tickets with no administration fee. Alternatively, you can use the ticket for travel the day before, or up to and including Tuesday August 2.
"If you have an Advance ticket, please travel as close as possible to the original day and time of travel as possible."
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