Falkirk rail passengers urged to plan ahead if travelling over festive period

The union has announced its members at Network Rail will take strike action from 6pm on Saturday, December 24 until 6am on Tuesday, December 27 across the country’s railway network resulting from a pay dispute with the track and infrastructure operator.

Although the dispute does not involve ScotRail staff, it will have a major impact on the train operator’s ability to provide services.

As a result, there will be the following impact on ScotRail services:

Christmas Eve (Saturday, December 24) – Services will run as normal until around 3pm when they will begin to wind down to allow for critical engineering works. No train services will start after 6pm but some trains will still be in transit. Christmas Day (Sunday, December 25) – ScotRail does not operate services on Christmas Day. Boxing Day (Monday, December 26) – No services will operate due to use of contingent Network Rail staff and the prioritisation of critical engineering works. Tuesday, December 27 – A later start up of services. Most services will start around 8am, but in some parts of the country, such as Stirling, there will be no trains running until 5pm. This is due to the shift times of Network Rail signallers. Hogmanay (Saturday, December 31) – Services will stop earlier than normal for the usual Hogmanay close down.

ScotRail said services are due to operate as per the normal timetable between Wednesday, December 28 and Friday, December 30.

The times of the last trains on Christmas Eve on routes through Falkirk district are: 1545 Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley (via Falkirk High); 1545 Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street (via Falkirk High); 1527 Glasgow Queen Street to Falkirk Grahamston; 1545 Falkirk Grahamston to Glasgow Queen Street; 1603 Edinburgh Waverley to Dunblane; 1651 Dunblane to Edinburgh Waverley; 1638 Edinburgh Waverley to Stirling.

The routes, frequency of service and times of all the last trains on Christmas Eve can be found at www.scotrail.co.uk/christmas

Customers are advised to check the ScotRail app or visit scotrail.co.uk for the latest information before travelling.

The RMT has also announced plans for strike action January 3-4 and 6-7. ScotRail is currently working through its train plans for these dates.

David Simpson, ScotRail 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, December 27.

“We know this is really frustrating for everyone impacted and we’re urging customers to plan ahead and check their entire journey in advance.”