Scotrail warns of severe disruption to West Lothian train services amid RMT strikes

dailyrecord.co.uk:

ScotRail is warning customers of significant disruption due to tomorrow’s RMT Network Rail strike action.Strikes are being held on tomorrow as well as Thursday, August 18 and Saturday, August 20, meaning a very limited number of services will operate.This will effect people in West Lothian as there will only be two trains running between Edinburgh and Bathgate on these days as well as only two trains through Linlithgow on the Glasgow via Falkirk High route.Disruption to ScotRail services will not be confined to the days of strike action themselves but will also affect the day before and the days following them.Today, there will be a small number of trains cancelled.

This is to allow trains to be moved into the right position, as on most routes, trains cannot be moved again until 7.15am on Thursday..

By taking action on the Tuesday evening, it will help to ensure that as many passenger trains can operate on Thursday morning.For the routes on which we will operate a service, customers should only travel if they really need to and should consider alternative options where possible.The RMT union announced three days of 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.David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said:“It is very unfortunate to see such