Falkirk rail passengers to be hit as ScotRail cut services

The rail operator is to suspend more than a quarter of its services a day from Wednesday “to provide greater certainty and reliability” following mounting short-notice cancellations in a pay dispute with its unions.

In a repeat of a similar dispute in 2022, the Scottish Government-owned train operator will reduce the number of trains it runs after increasing gaps in the timetable were caused by staff apparently taking unofficial but lawful action by no longer volunteering for overtime.

ScotRail is cutting around 600 services which includes peak-time travel meaning there will be 1660 services operating every day.

It has said that it’s recruiting 160 new drivers each year to improve resilience, but added that “some rest day working and overtime is still needed to deliver a normal timetable”.

The move follows a formal pay offer being rejected last Friday by ScotRail’s four unions, and officials of drivers’ union Aslef recommending next week that a ballot for industrial action be held.

Passengers are urged to check the new timetable before travelling.

The Edinburgh to Glasgow intercity service through Falkirk High will be cut from four trains every hours to only two. The services will also call at Croy, Polmont and Linlithgow.

In the evenings this may be restricted to only one train per hour.

First train in each direction will leave the cities at 6am with the last train from both Glasgow and Edinburgh nightly at 11.45pm.

The Edinburgh to Stirling and Dunblane, going through Polmont, Falkirk Grahamston, Camelon and Larbert will operate two trains per hour in the peak morning and evening slots but only one during the day and later in the evening.

The first Falkirk Grahamston to Glasgow will depart at 7.47am and although there will be two trains per hour in the morning peak service, one will terminate at Cumbernauld, with the same in the evening peak slot. During the day there will be one train per hour and one train every two hours in the evening.

Mark Ilderton, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “We are very sorry to customers for the disruption to services. We know that customers want certainty and reliability, which is why we are introducing a temporary timetable, in place of late-notice cancellations.

“We are operating services which the vast majority of customers use and are still using all the available trains in our fleet so customers can continue to travel.

“We want to resolve the pay dispute with the trade unions and remain fully committed to further discussions.

“We’re asking customers to check their journey on our website or mobile app, as train times will have changed.”

But Aslef accused the Scottish government of failing to address driver shortages and pay issues.

The union’s Scottish organiser, Kevin Lindsay, said: "Rather than slashing the timetable in an act of economic vandalism that will impact towns and cities across Scotland as well as Scotland's rail passengers, ScotRail and the Scottish government must get serious about pay and urgently get back round the negotiating table with a serious and credible offer.

“The Scottish government and ScotRail need to understand quickly that investment in our railways includes investing in its most precious resource, its workers.