No trains will be running to and from Aberdeen and Inverness tomorrow – despite the rail strikes being called off.
RMT trade union has announced the strike action by its Network Rail members, which was planned to take place on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday, will be cancelled.
The move was to allow further negotiations in a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions, with a promise of a new pay offer from the train operating companies.
But while ScotRail has now taken action to restore its full timetable – with trains in the central belt up and running – services across north Scotland will remain suspended.
Rugby fans trying to get the train to Murrayfield for the Scotland vs Fiji match this weekend are now being advised to find alternative transport.
The firm blamed the “complexity” of the process to restore all services and the “short period of time available” for operating only a skeleton service on Saturday.
However, ScotRail service delivery director David Simpson reassured customers staff are working hard to restore the full timetable “as soon as possible”.
‘Skeleton service will operate’
He said: “ScotRail welcomes the announcement that planned strike action on November 5, 7 and 9 by RMT members at Network Rail has been suspended.
“Strike action does nothing for the railway’s recovery or reputation at this fragile time. It impacts customers, staff, and the economy.
“We’re now working hard to restore the timetable to normal as soon as possible, but this will take time.
“It’s too late to restore a full timetable for Saturday because of the complexity of rewriting timetables and rosters for thousands of our staff.
“A skeleton service will still operate on Saturday between 7.30am and 6.30pm.
“We’d encourage anyone planning to travel by rail over the next few days to check their journey before travel on our website or social media channels.”
In the meantime, ScotRail is encouraging customers to check their journey before they travel over the coming days and vowed to keep customers updated.
Conversation