Britain’s train operators have released plans for how their services will be altered during this week’s rail strikes.
Rail workers are walking out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but there will also be disruption on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
So we've put together a list of what those rail operators that serve Scotland have planned for strike days:
Avanti West Coast
A limited service of around a quarter of the normal timetable will operate, and only between 8am and 6pm.
A number of routes will not be served, such as to North Wales, Stoke and Edinburgh.
The operator has suspended ticket sales for travel between Tuesday and Sunday to “help reduce disruption and overcrowding”.
Caledonian Sleeper
All departures are cancelled between Monday and Friday.
CrossCountry
A “very limited service” is planned between Bristol Parkway and Plymouth, and Birmingham New Street and Edinburgh Waverley via Leeds, York and Newcastle.
Grand Central
In most cases, just three trains in each direction will be running on strike days.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER)
Around 38% of usual service levels are planned. Trains that do run “are likely to be very busy”.
Services on strike days will be “very limited”.
The last train from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh will be at 2pm.
Lumo
There will be “some disruption” to services throughout the week.
ScotRail
The rail operator will run two trains per hour on the Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk High line, the Edinburgh-Bathgate line, the Glasgow to Hamilton/Larkhall line and the Glasgow to Lanark line.
One train an hour will run on the Edinburgh to Glasgow via Shotts service.
Services on the five lines will only operate between 7.30am and 6.30pm on the dates affected.
Passengers were warned last week by ScotRail to only travel on the limited services “if they really need to”.
TransPennine Express
There will be a “significant reduction in available services” on strike days.
There will also be significant disruption on Wednesday and Friday.
The UK Government has refused to take part in last-ditch talks to avert transport chaos head of train strikes.
Downing Street said the dispute is between the unions and the employers and it “wouldn’t be helpful” for ministers to get involved.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 13 train operators will strike this week.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is calling on Westminster to adopt a positive role in the dispute, saying it was “inflaming tensions” with comments such as threatening to “revoke” workers’ legal rights.
But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Talks are continuing today but the government won’t be taking part in them.”
The spokesman said the train operators believed it was not “the government’s place to be at the table and it would not be helpful to the ongoing discussions to insert the government into the negotiating process at this stage”.
The TUC said ministers in Westminster were insisting on imposing cuts and planning to change the law so that employers can draft in agency workers during industrial action, which it added was reminiscent of the action recently taken by P&O.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The government has the power to help end this dispute but rather than working in good faith to find a negotiated settlement, ministers are inflaming tensions and trying to pitch worker against worker.
“Instead of threatening to do a P&O on these workers and rip up their rights, ministers should be getting people around the table to help agree a fair deal.”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Strikes should always be the last resort, not the first, so it is hugely disappointing and premature that the RMT is going ahead with industrial action.
“The government committed £16bn to keep our railways running throughout the pandemic while ensuring not a single worker lost their job.
“The railway is still on life support, with passenger numbers 25% down and anything that drives away even more of them risks killing services and jobs.”
Experts in the retail sector have issued warnings over the potential negative impact the limited services will have on Scotland’s shopper footfall figures, which were down by 16% on pre-pandemic levels in May.
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: “Many stores are only just beginning to emerge from the long and destabilising impact of the pandemic, and further train disruption could deter shoppers and derail retail’s recovery.”
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