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RMT Network Rail strike set to shut down Far North Line later this week as ScotRail cuts services


By John Davidson

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No trains will run on the Far North Line on Thursday and Saturday, with further disruption on Friday and Sunday. Picture: John Davidson
No trains will run on the Far North Line on Thursday and Saturday, with further disruption on Friday and Sunday. Picture: John Davidson

There will be no rail services across the Highlands – including on the Far North Line – on Thursday and Saturday due to strike action.

And services on Friday and Sunday are expected to be badly affected by the walk-out as well.

More than 40,000 RMT union members working for Network Rail are striking across the country over job security, pay and working conditions.

ScotRail says that while the dispute does not involve its own staff, it will have a major knock-on effect on the train operator's ability to provide services as many Network Rail staff in Scotland occupy safety-critical roles.

David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: "It is very unfortunate to see such widespread disruption across the whole of the Great Britain rail network and we know this will be frustrating for ScotRail customers.

"Regrettably, this strike action by RMT members of Network Rail means that we will not be able to operate the vast majority of our services during the period of strike action. Customers should expect significant disruption to services on strike days, as well as the following day.

"We are able to operate on more routes than on the previous day of strike action, however, we are still only able to run a very limited number of services on these routes, so we're advising customers to seek alternative means of transport and to only travel if they really need to."

ScotRail has confirmed that it will operate services on just 11 routes across the central belt, Fife and the Borders on the days of strike action.

There will be no trains either to Inverness or north of the Highland capital. The train company says this is due to the greater reliance on manual signalling outside the central belt.

Customers are being warned that it may be into the afternoons on Friday and Sunday before services north of the central belt are operating again.

People are advised to check scotrail.co.uk/strike for more information.


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