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Last minute travel plans? Here are the last trains leaving Christmas Eve across the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire

ScotRail train on West Highland line.
Services on the West Highland Line are among those which have been cancelled this weekend due to severe weather. Image: Kris Miller/DC Thomson.

Rail workers have begun a four-day walkout on Christmas Eve, with ScotRail services stopping earlier than usual.

Strikers are locked in a pay dispute with major rail companies, including Network Rail, with many of their staff employed in Scotland on strike over Christmas.

ScotRail highlights that while services are liable to disruption on Saturday, December 24, as normal, no services run on Christmas Day.

On Boxing Day there will be no trains running due to strikes, and on December 27, services will start later due to a shake-up in signalling due to the strike action.

While trains would normally run well into the evening on Christmas Eve, allowing last-minute passengers to make their Christmas travel plans, this year services begin to wind down at 3pm.

Strike action has hindered the reliability of train services in Scotland this year due to numerous walk-outs, with the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire some of the most affected areas.

Usually, ScotRail can run limited services between Glasgow and Edinburgh, but no trains run north of the Central Belt.

It means commuters between Inverness and Aberdeen and other northern lines are left stranded.

Here are the last trains running across the north and north-east:

  • 3.35pm – Inverness to Aberdeen
  • 3.44pm – Inverness to Perth
  • 2pm – Inverness to Wick
  • 12.34pm – Wick to Inverness
  • 10.56pm – Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh
  • 1.46pm – Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness
  • 12.22pm – Glasgow Queen Street to Oban/Fort William
  • 12.11pm – Oban to Glasgow Queen Street
  • 10.10.am – Mallaig to Glasgow Queen Street
  • 4.05pm – Mallaig to Fort William
  • 2.50pm – Inverness to Invergordon
  • 3.51pm – Invergordon to Inverness

Trains to and from Aberdeen will leave later in the evening:

  • 3.25pm – Aberdeen to Inverness
  • 4.57pm – Aberdeen to Inverurie
  • 5.46 – Inverurie to Aberdeen
  • 4.59pm – Aberdeen to Stonehaven
  • 4.51pm – Montrose to Aberdeen
  • 4.30pm – Aberdeen to Perth

On December 27, there will be no trains running before 7.15am, with passengers able to check train times via the ScotRail website or Journey Checker.

The RMT Union are preparing to hold further strikes into the new year from January 3-4 and 6-7.

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