ScotRail bosses have urged passengers – including football fans – to consider alternative travel arrangements over the festive period ahead of further strike action by RMT members of Network Rail.
Railway workers will walk out nationwide from 6pm on Christmas Eve until 6am on December 27 in a dispute over pay with the track and infrastructure operator. While ScotRail workers are not striking, the absence of staff vital for the running of the railway network means services are being heavily reduced during the action, and will actually be affected until December 28.
The RMT strike is likely to affect crowd numbers at a number of football matches due to be played on Christmas Eve. Supporters are being reminded services will wind down from 3pm onwards – potentially affecting how they will get home come the full time whistle.
David Simpson, ScotRail's service delivery director, said: “It’s really disappointing to see more disruption across the whole Great Britain rail network as a result of the dispute between Network Rail and the RMT at a time when we need to be encouraging more people back to the railway.
"For ScotRail, this is going to mean significant disruption with last trains stopping earlier than usual on Christmas Eve, no services on Boxing Day, and later first trains on Tuesday, 27 December. We know this is really frustrating for everyone impacted and we’re urging customers to plan ahead and check their entire journey in advance.”
Four SPFL clashes have been fixed for Christmas Eve: Celtic-St Johnstone at Parkhead and St Mirren-Aberdeen at the SMISA Stadium, both kicking off at 12.30pm, and Dundee United-Hearts at Tannadice and Hibs-Livingston at Easter Road at 2pm.
A number of lower league games will also take place on December 24 including Kelty Hearts-Dunfermline, Edinburgh-Peterhead and Dumbarton-East Fife.
Services will be impacted on each day as follows:
- Christmas Eve: Services will run as normal until 3pm, with no trains after 6pm except for the 6.15pm Cumbernauld-Motherwell service.
- Christmas Day: No services, as is custom on Christmas Day.
- Boxing Day: No services due to lack of staff and engineering works.
- December 27: No services until 8am, with some services only beginning at 5pm.
- New Year's Eve: Services will stop early for traditional Hogmanay shutdown.
RMT members are also set to strike on January 3-4 and 6-7 unless Network Rail returns to the negotiating table with a better pay deal. Network Rail had offered a 5% pay rise in 2022 and a 4% rise in 2023, but union secretary Mick Lynch had derided the proposal as "substandard".
The union has also criticised Network Rail's plans to cut maintenance jobs and increase unsocial hours by 30% as part of a modernisation programme that aims to save the largely taxpayer-funded body £2 billion.
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