ScotRail reminds customers to expect major disruption as result of strike

ScotRail is reminding customers of significant disruption across Scotland’s railway network on two days this week – and is urging people to travel by train only if it’s absolutely necessary.

Members of the RMT union who work for Network Rail announced will walk out on Thursday (August 18) and Saturday (August 20) this week over a pay dispute.

While the dispute does not involve ScotRail – the publicly-owned train operator north of the border – signallers will be among those who will be striking, which will have a knock-on effect that will see most services cancelled.

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.  

Scotland’s rail network is expected to suffer significant disruption this week as a result of strike action.

There will be two trains per hour between Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street, Edinburgh and Helensburgh Central, Glasgow Central and Hamilton, Glasgow Central and Lanark, Edinburgh and Inverkeithing, Edinburgh and Tweedbank and Milngavie and Springburn.

There will be one train per hour on the impacted days between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central, Edinburgh and North Berwick, Glasgow Queen Street and Larbert, and Glasgow Queen Street and Falkirk Grahamston.

The services will run between 7.30am and the final train will leave “well before” 6.30pm, the operator said.

Customers are advised to check the ScotRail app or website for the latest information before travelling.  

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 on strike days, as well as the following day. 

“We are able to operate on more routes than on the previous day of strike action, however, we are still only able to run a very limited number of services on these routes, so we’re advising customers to seek alternative means of transport and to only travel if they really need to.