Capital commuters have told of being caught up in the biggest train strike in 30 years - with cancelled journeys torn up timetables.
A mass walkout of Network Rail staff is expected to cause travel chaos for thousands across the UK from Tuesday, June 21.
So on Monday, Edinburgh Live headed to Waverley station top ask travellers what impact to their journeys they can expect.
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Lisa Higginson, a sales account manager from northern Scotland, was traveling from northern Scotland to Sheffield on Monday. She was travelling earlier than planned to avoid disruptions on the outbound journey, but her trip back home is more complicated.
“Because of the disruptions, I have had to plan to leave my business meeting early in Sheffield, and I will have to buy two bus tickets instead of traveling by train,” she said.
A passenger traveling from Edinburgh to London on Monday claimed her return journey had also been canceled later this week due to the strikes.
“My return journey was cancelled, but I’m massively supportive of the worker’s strike. Without industrial action, we would not have weekends or fair pay,” the woman said.
She had been told about the cancellation well in advance, and she was happy to support the strike by making alternative travel arrangements.
A traveller called Jan was also supportive of the worker’s strike for better pay despite disruptions to her plans.
“I should be travelling tomorrow, but instead I’m leaving Edinburgh today,” she said.
“I did receive an email about the disruptions, but I’d already changed my plans.”
However, not everyone was as amenable to the rail worker’s cause. A woman named Elaine was forced to cut her trip to Edinburgh short as she traveled back to London ahead of the union’s action on Monday.
“I came to Scotland for a concert, and I wanted to stay until Wednesday, but now I have to go back before the strike. I’m not supportive of the strike, and it has totally ruined my trip,” she said.
According to a press release from ScotRail, travellers are likely to face significant delays and cancellations as members of Network Rail have gone on strike in the hope of receiving a fair wage increase.
It is allegedly the largest rail strike in the United Kingdom in the past 30 years.
“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,” said David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director.
“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.”
The strike will be held on June 21, 23, and 25, which means ScotRail will only operate trains on five routes across Scotland between 7.30am and 6.30pm on these dates.
ScotRail warns the travellers to “only travel if they really need to and should consider alternative options where possible.”
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