West Lothian rail passengers have been warned to expect disruption and plan ahead due to strikes this week.
RMT members of Network Rail are walking out today, tomorrow and on January 6 and 7. While the dispute does not involve ScotRail staff, it will impact the train operator’s ability to provide services.
Many of the Network Rail staff that are due to take part in the planned industrial action occupy safety-critical roles and, as such, it will not be possible for ScotRail to run the vast majority of services.
On strike days, this means the train operator will run services on 12 routes across the central belt, Fife, and the Borders between 7.30am and 6.30pm.
This means in West Lothian, only trains to Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High and Edinburgh Waverley to Helensburgh Central will run, but only two per hour.
David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “It’s really disappointing to see more widespread 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, it’s going to mean that we won’t be able to operate the vast majority of our services between 3 and 7 January, which we know will be really frustrating for our customers.
“We’re advising customers to seek alternative means of transport and to only travel if they really need to on the days of strike action.
“Customers should check their entire journey in advance to make sure their train is running."
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