Disruption for Falkirk rail passengers as strikes planned for three days in the next week

With union members set to take strike action over three 24-hour periods in the coming week, there is set to be large scale disruption across the country’s railways. The strike action on Saturday, November 5, Monday, November 7 and Wednesday, November 9 comes following an ongoing pay dispute between union members and Network Rail.

The dispute does not involve ScotRail staff but it will have a major impact on the train operator’s ability to provide services. Only a very limited number of services will operate on a limited number of routes as a result of the industrial action.

ScotRail has confirmed that on the strike days – November 5, 7 and 9 – only 11 routes across the Central Belt, Fife and the Borders will run between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

The limited services passing through the district on these days will be: Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High – two trains per hour; Edinburgh Waverley to Larbert – one train per hour; Glasgow Queen Street to Larbert – one train per hour; Glasgow Queen Street to Falkirk Grahamston – one train per hour.

Passengers are advised the final services will depart well before 6.30pm so they should plan ahead and ensure they know when their last train will depart. ScotRail is also urging customers to only travel if they really need to on those routes operating on strike days and to consider alternative options where possible.

Rugby fans travelling to Edinburgh on Saturday for the Scotland v Fiji match are asked to plan ahead if travelling to the game by train. Long queues at stations are expected due to the limited service in place. A very limited service will be in operation after the final whistle so customers should consider alternative options if they’re not back at the station promptly as travel cannot be guaranteed.

Passengers face disruption to rail services on the days following strike action too – Sunday, November 6, Tuesday, November 8 and Thursday, November 10 – as signal boxes reopen at different times.

David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: “Once again, it’s really disappointing to see the dispute between Network Rail and the RMT result in more widespread disruption across the whole Great Britain rail network at a time when we need to be encouraging more people back to the railway. For ScotRail, it’s going to mean that we won’t be able to operate the vast majority of our services, which we know will be really frustrating for our customers.

“ScotRail customers should expect significant disruption to services on strike days, as well as on the days after industrial action. We’re advising customers to seek alternative means of transport and to only travel if you really need to on the days of strike action. Customers should check your journey in advance to make sure your train is running if you’re travelling on one of the days following strike action.”

Up to date information on rail services can be found on the ScotRail website or app.