People across Scotland are set for three days of travel disruption as RMT announced the dates of a national strike that will be taking place across the Great Britain railway network.
Across June 21, 23 and 25 there will be a very limited number of services operating only in the Central Belt.
Only five routes will operate, with no service on any other route.
What ScotRail services are affected by the strikes?
As it stands, only the following services will operate between 7:30am and 6:30pm on June 21, 23 and 25:
- 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
No other areas will be serviced during these days.
Rail disruption leaving Scotland
Avanti West Coast – which runs services between Glasgow and London Euston – said it would only operate about a quarter of a typical timetable on Tuesday, June 21 and Thursday, June 23, increasing to about a third of services on Saturday, June 25.
LNER has also amended its timetable during the strike action, stating the following service updates:
- The last train from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh is at 14:00
- The last train from Edinburgh to London is 12:30
CrossCountry trains has said it will be running only on a "very limited service" for services into Edinburgh Waverley. Further information can be found on the website here.
Scotrail urges only to travel if necessary
During these days Scotrail has urged people not to travel unless necessary, and if you do then you should expect disruption and plan ahead.
1/3 Because of the strikes on 21, 23 & 25 June by RMT members of Network Rail, we will only be able to run a skeleton service on 5 routes in Scotland. These limited services will start at 07:30 and end at 18:30. pic.twitter.com/vjKn8ra3tQ
— ScotRail (@ScotRail) June 20, 2022
On the days following strike action, there will be disruption caused by the reopening of signal boxes at different times across the country.
Scotrail says that while the large signalling centres at Yoker, West of Scotland and Edinburgh will be able to operate from 0715 this will not be the case at manual boxes elsewhere and it may well be early afternoon before many routes are able to operate as normal.
This is particularly the case for routes out with the Central Belt.
David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “It is very unfortunate to see such widespread disruption across the whole of the Great Britain rail network and we know this will be frustrating for ScotRail customers.
“Regrettably, this strike action by RMT members of Network Rail means that we will not be able to operate the vast majority of our services during the period of strike action. Customers should expect significant disruption to services next week, including on the days between strike action.
“On the five routes where we are able to operate a very limited service on strike days, we’re advising customers to seek alternative means of transport and to only travel if they really need to.”
You can see all services that are running on June 22 and 24 on the website here.
