There is likely to be significant disruption to train services in Scotland on Thursday, 18th and Saturday, 20th August because of industrial action by Network Rail staff who are members of the RMT union.

Although the dispute does not involve ScotRail staff, it will have a major effect on train services as the strike will involve Network Rail staff in Scotland. Many of those staff are in safety-critical roles which will make it impossible for ScotRail to run the vast majority of services.

Because of the knock-on effect of the strike action, there will also be an impact on the days following the strike, Friday, 19th and Sunday, 21st August.

For more information on the strike, please visit the National Rail website at National Rail Enquiries – Industrial Action and scotrail.co.uk/strike for the information.

Passengers intending to travel can check the ScotRail app or visit scotrail.co.uk before travelling for up-to-date information.

On the days of strike action, services will only operate on 11 routes across the Central Belt, Fife, and the Borders, and only between 07.30 and 18.30. Final services will depart well before 18.30, so customers should ensure they know what time when their last train will run.

Services will run on the following routes:

• Edinburgh Waverley – Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High: two trains per hour
• Edinburgh Waverley – Helensburgh Central: 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 Central – Hamilton/Larkhall: two trains per hour
  Glasgow Central – Lanark: two trains per hour
• Glasgow Queen Street – Larbert: one train per hour
• Glasgow Queen Street – Falkirk Grahamston: one train per hour

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.”