Scotrail has announced that from today, a temporary timetable will be in effect to provide greater certainty and reliability for customers.
This is a result of
the ongoing impact of fewer train drivers than normal being available for
overtime or rest day working, as is their contractual right, following
confirmation from drivers’ union ASLEF that it will recommend to its Executive
Committee a ballot for industrial action over pay.
Over the past
number of weeks, ScotRail has been in pay discussions with the rail trade unions,
ASLEF, RMT, TSSA, and Unite. A formal pay offer in line with the Scottish
Government’s public sector pay policy was made on Friday, July 5, however, this
was rejected by all four trade unions.
While ScotRail is
currently recruiting 160 new drivers – the highest level ever – each year, some
overtime is still needed to deliver a normal timetable. This has historically
been the case in the railway and is replicated in other train operators across
Britain.
Reducing the
timetable temporarily will mean ScotRail is less reliant on drivers working
rest days or overtime, providing a more reliable service for customers instead
of late-notice cancellations.
Under the temporary
timetable, ScotRail will operate around 1,660 services each day Monday to Saturday,
which is nearly 200 more services than the one introduced in 2022 when there
was similar disruption.
While the times of
first or last trains on more than half of routes will remain unchanged, there
will be changes in the number of services provided during the morning and
evening peak times – for example, where there are normally four trains per hour
in the peak, this will reduce to a half hourly service which is the same as the
off-peak.
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. The
temporary timetable provides more than 515,000 seats each day - around twice
the number of passenger journeys being made.
The temporary timetable can be viewed here.
Customers are
strongly advised to check their journey before travelling by using the ScotRail
website or app.
Refunds are
available to customers for booked journeys which are affected by the temporary
timetable with no additional admin fee. Alternatively, customers can use their
tickets to travel on an alternative service, or the day before or two days
after their planned journey.