Passenger anger at mounting ScotRail disruption from late-notice Sunday cancellations

Misery after more services halted on top of major cuts in temporary timetable

Passengers have vented their frustration and anger at ScotRail after it cancelled more than 100 trains at short notice on Sunday.

The halted trains are understood to be in addition to some 550 planned cancellations - up to half of the normal service - caused by some drivers not volunteering for overtime after rejecting a pay offer.

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That would mean only about 40 per cent of normal Sunday trains were running, which could cause problems for revellers returning home from events such as the TRNSMT music festival at Glasgow Green.

Sunday trains were further reduced on the sixth day of ScotRail's temporary timetable. (Photo by John Devlin/The Scotsman)Sunday trains were further reduced on the sixth day of ScotRail's temporary timetable. (Photo by John Devlin/The Scotsman)
Sunday trains were further reduced on the sixth day of ScotRail's temporary timetable. (Photo by John Devlin/The Scotsman) | John Devlin

The number of unplanned cancellations has increased from around 20 on Thursday and some 60 on Friday.

ScotRail tweeted on Sunday: “Services today are heavily reduced from their usual levels.

“Please consider your travel options to get home after TRNSMT as ttains departing Glasgow after the event will be limited.”

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Lines with the largest numbers of short-notice cancellations included Edinburgh to Dunblane and Glenrothes, and Glasgow to Gourock, which both had 12-13 services halted.

Others worst affected included Glasgow to Wemyss Bay, East Kilbride, Neilston and Kilmarnock.

Passengers complained on social media at being unable to obtain accurate information about which services were still running.

Minhaz Zee posted on X/Twitter: “I have been waiting for the train at Bridge of Allan since 0930 to travel to Glasgow. The train at 0948 and 1102 has been cancelled. The one at 1102 was cancelled last minute.

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“This is completely unacceptable! Get a grip and stop wasting people’s time. Its 2024 not 1974!”

El Capitan posted that there was supposed to be an hourly service between Glasgow Central and East Kilbride but the 1726, 1826 and 1926 services from East Kilbride were shown as cancelled.

They said: “So much for temp timetable providing certainty - the only certainty is that services will be cancelled.”

Transport in Scotland is a key issue - get our specialist newsletter for the best updates However, others praised ScotRail for helping to get stranded passengers home. Carolyne Smith posted: “Our 18-year-old & her friends went to Edinburgh on Thursday, planned to return to the Borders on the last train.

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“It was cancelled. You guys organised taxis for all the passengers! Thank you from these grateful, worried parents x.”

The disruption has mounted since Tuesday when ScotRail introduced an indefinite “temporary timetable” in an attempt to provide more certainty to passengers in the face of several days of short-notice cancellations.

ScotRail depends on drivers volunteering for overtime and working on days off to run its full timetable, and has said it will not have enough to remove this reliance until 2027.

Aslef, which represents most of ScotRail’s 1,300 drivers, is due to decide on Tuesday whether to hold a strike ballot after rejecting a 9.3 per cent pay deal over three years.

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The RMT, ScotRail’s largest union, has already decided to stage a vote.

ScotRail said Sunday’s short-notice additional cancellations were due to some drivers deciding not to work on their rest day, as is their contractual right.

It said that historically, Sundays did form part of the working week for train drivers and therefore, rest day working and overtime are used to operate the timetable.

Mark Ilderton, ScotRail’s service delivery director, said: “We are sorry to customers who are experiencing disruption to services.

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“Customers can stay up to date with the latest travel information via our ScotRail app and website.

“We want to resolve the pay dispute with the trade unions and remain fully committed to further discussions.”

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