Thousands of union members are taking part in strike action, bringing trains to a standstill across Scotland and UK.
Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members are walking on Wednesday July 27 following a dispute over pay, jobs and working conditions. Although ScotRail are not associated with this, it has had a severer knock-on-effect with the majority of trains in Scotland cancelled.
Only five services are running across the central belt, while the rest of Scotland's trains have ground to a halt and no other services will be running. ScotRail are urging people to plan ahead and consider other modes of transport over the strike period.
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The strike will last 24 hours but although RMT members will return work on Thursday, there will be heavy disruption, particularly in the morning as signal boxes open and close at different times. Most trains from Edinburgh are cancelled on Thursday up until midday.
40,000 union members are striking today including staff from Network Rail and Network Rail Scotland. Staff from 14 train operators are also taking part.
What trains are running from Edinburgh
The only operating routes to and from Edinburgh are as followed;
Edinburgh – Glasgow via Falkirk High: two trains per hour
Edinburgh – Bathgate: two trains per hour
Edinburgh – Glasgow via Shotts: one train per hour
ScotRail are urging passengers to travel only if they need to and to consider alternative options where possible. Trains will only operate between 7:30am and 6:30pm on Wednesday however final services are said to be departing "well before" 6:30pm with customers being asked to check ScotRail's website before travelling.
What trains are cancelled on Thursday?
On Thursday July 28, there will be heavy disruption, particularly in the morning due to the closing and reopening of signal boxes at different times across the country. Trains from Edinburgh Waverley will be cancelled in the morning and won't start up again until around midday. People are being urged to check their journey before heading off.
You can see the list of cancelled and delayed trains from Glasgow here.
When are the next strikes?
On July 27 the member of the union Aslef are striking. While ScotRail are not involved, the following train operators will be affected;
- London Overground
- Greater Anglia
- Great Western Railway
- Hull Trains
- LNER
- London Northwestern Railway
- Southeastern
- West Midlands Railway
The next strike to impact ScotRail will fall on August 18 and 19 as RMT members are set to walk out again and we expect to see a similar impact as today's. ScotRail have yet to publish the revised timetable.
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