ScotRail will not be operating trains north of the central belt due to the latest strikes announced by the RMT union.
The axed services mean many passengers living in the north and north-east will have Christmas travel plans ruined.
No services will run to or from Aberdeen or Inverness from Tuesday, 13 December until Saturday, 17 December.
Although the dispute does not involve ScotRail staff, it is reliant on Network Rail staff to operate railway infrastructure in Scotland.
Network Rail staff currently operate the signal boxes and carry out maintenance.
When will the strikes take place?
The 12 days of strikes will take place on:
- December 13 to 14
- December 16 to 17
- December 24 to 27
- January 3 to 4
- January 6 to 7
Although Thursday, December 15, is a non-strike day, ScotRail will continue to operate the reduced strike timetable, which only runs in the Central Belt.
This is because of the complexity of restarting the timetable between strike days.
ScotRail has warned more cancellations, especially on Monday, December 12 and Sunday, December 18 could be announced later.
Due to strike action by RMT members of Network Rail on Tuesday 13, Wednesday 14, Friday 16, and Saturday 17 December, we will only be able to run a skeleton service on a limited number of routes across the Central Belt, Fife, and Borders for five days 1/2 pic.twitter.com/8NUL4pekft
— ScotRail (@ScotRail) December 9, 2022
What ScotRail services will run?
Only a very limited number of trains will run from Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Central Belt during the strike timetable.
For full details on the timetable, visit the Scotrail website.
The exact details of the reduced timetable for December 24 to 27 and January is yet to be announced.
Scotrail says customers can request a full refund for cancelled tickets.
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) members of Network Rail are currently voting on a pay offer, which is due to close on Monday, December 12.
But even if strike action is called off after that vote, it will still take train operators at least two days to return services to normal.
This week, RMT boss Mick Lynch called for an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister over the dispute.Â
The Scottish Government took control of ScotRail in April after deciding to nationalise the rail franchise.
