West Lothian people are being warned of significant disruption to rail travel due to strike action by RMT members of Network Rail later this week.
Network Rail strike action will take place on Thursday (August 18) and Saturday (August 20).
This means a very limited number of services will operate on a limited number of ScotRail routes.
The RMT union announced strike action across the Great Britain railway network resulting from a pay dispute with Network Rail.
This dispute does not involve ScotRail staff, however it will have a major knock-on effect on the train operator’s ability to provide services as the RMT planned action will involve Network Rail staff in Scotland.
Many of the Network Rail staff that are due to take part in the planned industrial action occupy safety-critical roles and, as such, it will not be possible for ScotRail to run the vast majority of services.
For more information on this, please visit the National Rail website at National Rail Enquiries - Industrial Action.
ScotRail has confirmed that it will operate services on 11 routes across the Central Belt, Fife and Borders on the days of strike action, providing double the number of services than during the previous strike by RMT members of Network Rail on July 27.
ScotRail will operate 378 services on August 18 and 20 compared to 189 on July 27.
However, the railway will only be operational between 07.30 and 18.30 on August 18 and 20.
Services on the following routes will run on these days:
Edinburgh Waverley – Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High: two trains per hour
Edinburgh Waverley – Helensburgh Central: two trains per hour
Glasgow Central – Hamilton/Larkhall: two trains per hour
Glasgow Central – Lanark: two trains per hour
Edinburgh Waverley – Glasgow Central via Shotts: one train per hour
Edinburgh Waverley – Inverkeithing: two trains per hour
Edinburgh Waverley – Tweedbank: two trains per hour
Edinburgh Waverley – North Berwick: one train per hour
Glasgow Queen Street – Larbert: one train per hour
Glasgow Queen Street – Falkirk Grahamston: one train per hour
Milngavie – Springburn: two trains per hour
Final services will depart well before 18.30, so customers should plan ahead to ensure they know when their last train will run.
Due to the greater reliance on manual signalling outside the Central Belt, Network Rail is unable to facilitate passenger services on any other routes on the strike days.
Customer retail systems are being updated to reflect these changes.
Customers are also advised to check scotrail.co.uk/strike for more information.
David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “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.
“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. Customers should expect significant disruption to services on strike days, as well as the following day.
“We are able to operate on more routes than on the previous day of strike action, however, we are still only able to run a very limited number of services on these routes, so we’re advising customers to seek alternative means of transport and to only travel if they really need to.”
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