A lack of staff has led to 30 cancelled services across Scotland’s rail network.
According to the ScotRail website a “shortage of train crew” is once again behind the called-off journeys – which is affecting passengers from Aberdeen to Dundee, Perth, Fife, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The following Christmas Eve services have been cancelled due to a lack of workers:
- 8.01am Edinburgh to Aberdeen
- 8.17am Glasgow to Edinburgh
- 8.29am Edinburgh to Aberdeen
- 8.57am Barrhead to Glasgow
- 9.57am Edinburgh to Glasgow
- 9.59am Edinburgh to Arbroath
- 10.05am Arbroath to Edinburgh
- 11.03am Arbroath to Edinburgh
- 12.08pm Arbroath to Edinburgh
- 12.36pm Edinburgh to Perth
- 12.59pm Edinburgh to Arbroath
- 1.19pm Edinburgh to Cowdenbeath
- 1.33pm Edinburgh Glasgow Queen Street
- 1.41pm Edinburgh to Glenrothes
- 2.23pm Cowdenbeath to Edinburgh
- 2.39pm Glenrothes to Edinburgh
- 2.57pm Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh
- 3.05pm Arbroath to Edinburgh
- 4.21pm Edinburgh to Cowdenbeath
- 5.15pm Aberdeen to Edinburgh
- 5.43pm Haymarket to North Berwick
- 6.13pm Edinburgh to Glasgow
- 6.28pm North Berwick to Edinburgh
- 7.12pm Perth to Edinburgh
- 7.15pm Glenrothes to Edinburgh
- 7.38pm Arbroath to Dundee
- 8pm Edinburgh to Dundee
- 8.29pm Dunblane to Edinburgh
- 8.43pm Edinburgh to North Berwick
- 9.27pm North Berwick to Edinburgh
Staff shortages have been behind a string of cancellations to ScotRail services in recent weeks.
Last Monday, at least 57 of more than 70 cancelled services were put down to a shortage of crew.
ScotRail Alliance managing director Alex Hynes said the cancellations are due to “compressed” staff training, which has been deemed necessary as a result of the late delivery of new Hitachi and Wabtec trains.
This has led to a knock-on effect on services across the country, with cancellations expected to endure.
Mr Hynes said: “We’re sorry to customers for the disruption to services in recent weeks. We know the impact this has on your day, and are working flat out to get things back to normal.
“The disruption has been caused by two key factors:
“1. Late delivery of new trains by Hitachi and Wabtec means the training that is required for our train crew, on new trains and new routes, has had to be compressed into a very short space of time.
“Day-to-day services have had to be cancelled to allow our people to take part in training.
“2. RMT industrial action meant there was an overtime ban for some of our people, which lasted for several weeks.
“This is now resolved but made the problem of train crew training worse.
“Training is ongoing so that we can get services back to normal and we can expect an improvement in the coming weeks.
“But while we continue to train our conductors and drivers some disruption will remain.”
He added: “We know this isn’t acceptable, and are sorry to customers about this. Every single person at the ScotRail Alliance is working hard to improve things for our customers as soon as possible.
“Customers should check @ScotRail on Twitter and visit JourneyCheck.com/scotrail before travelling.”
