ScotRail has announced they will be adding extra seats and updating the timetable as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe kicks off.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe starts from August 5 to August 29 with over two million tourists expected to descend on Edinburgh for the iconic arts festival. Festival goers will be treated to thousands of shows spread across more than 250 venues in what will be the first year the festivals will operate fully since the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Fringe and with many expected to travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow, ScotRail have announced extra late night trains will run during the month and extra seats will be added on other popular routes.
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A late-night train will be in operation from North Berwick to Edinburgh between Friday, August 5 and Thursday, August 14 to support return travel from the Fringe by the Sea.
The additional late-night trains are:
- 12:03am Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High
- 12:33am Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High
- 12:01am North Berwick to Edinburgh Waverley
Extra carriages will also be added to key trains to and from the capital city from Tweedbank, Fife, Perth, Dundee, Stirling, Dunblane, and Glasgow Central throughout the event.
This comes after ScotRail confirmed they would return to a full timetable after weeks of running a reduced timetable due to a driver shortage. While a pay deal was agreed on between Aslef union and ScotRail which allowed the original timetable to be put in place, the train operator has warned travellers that strike action from Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will cause disruption.
Members of RMT include Network Rail Scotland signallers who, without them, trains across Scotland cannot run. Although ScotRail aren't associated with the strike action, the previous strike action from RMT meant that only five services ran in central Scotland, leaving the rest of the country without.
The RMT union announced strike action for Thursday, August 18, and Saturday, August 20 across the Great Britain railway network resulting from a pay dispute with Network Rail.
Disruption to ScotRail services would not be confined to the days of strike action themselves but will also affect the day before (Wednesday, August 17) and the days following them (Friday, August 19 and Sunday, August, 21).
ScotRail will confirm its plan and travel advice for customers for the days affected in the lead up to any strike action.
David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “This year’s Edinburgh festivals are set to be special as they celebrate their 75th anniversary, and we’re thrilled to be able to, once again, play our part in making it a success.
“We’ll be doing all we can to help showcase Edinburgh, and Scotland, to the world, including running extra late-night services and adding more seats to trains to get people to and from the events.
“Our trains are going be extremely busy, so we’re encouraging everyone visiting the capital to plan their journey in advance, and to buy their train tickets before they board using our mTicket system on our mobile app.
“Festival goers should be aware of the potential of significant disruption during the festivals due to planned strike action by Network Rail members of the RMT trade union. We’ll let customers know our plans and travel advice in the coming weeks, should this planned strike action go ahead.”
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