ScotRail is urging rail users to plan their journey in advance over the Christmas period with services "severely impacted" by the latest round of strike action by RMT members of Network Rail.
While the dispute does not involve ScotRail staff, the rail operator said it will have a major impact on their ability to provide services as the RMT planned action involves Network Rail staff in Scotland.
The RMT union announced its members at Network Rail will take strike action from 6:00pm on Saturday, December 24 until 6:00am on Tuesday, December 27 across the Great Britain railway network resulting from a pay dispute with the track and infrastructure operator.
David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “We know this is really frustrating for everyone impacted and we’re urging customers to plan ahead and check their entire journey in advance.”
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This will result in the following impact on ScotRail services:
Christmas Eve - services will run as normal until around 1500 when they will begin to wind down to allow for critical engineering works. No train services will start after 1800 (except for the 1815 Cumbernauld - Motherwell) but some trains will still be in transit.
Christmas Day - ScotRail does not operate services on Christmas Day.
Boxing Day - no services will operate due to use of contingent Network Rail staff and the prioritisation of critical engineering works. ScotRail normally operates a reduced service across the Strathclyde region.
Tuesday, December 27 - a later start-up of services. Most services on that day will start around 0800, but in some parts of the country, such as Stirling, there will be no trains running until 1700. This is due to the shift start times of Network Rail signallers.
New Year’s Eve - services will stop earlier than normal for usual Hogmanay closedown.
Services are due to operate as per the normal timetable between Wednesday, 28 December and Friday, 30 December.
A number of football matches are being played on Christmas Eve, with ScotRail reminding supporters attending those games that services will begin to wind down from 3pm so they should make sure they have planned their journey home in advance.
The routes, frequency of service, and times of the last trains on Christmas Eve are available here
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