MAJOR cuts to Scotland’s rail services caused by staff shortages are set to begin tomorrow.
ScotRail are withdrawing or amending services from 12 different routes throughout the country amid a surge of Covid-19 cases in their staff.
Absences already led to some trains being cancelled in the run-up to Christmas and the rail operator has now altered its timetable between January 4 and 28.
The rail operator announced the news before the new year and have stated that the alterations are mainly in the Central Belt of Scotland, but passengers from all areas of the country are being asked to check the status of their journey before heading to their local station.
From Tuesday (4 Jan) until 28 Jan, we'll be running a reduced timetable in response to the huge increase in staff absences caused by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
— ScotRail (@ScotRail) January 2, 2022
This will help avoid last minute changes to services and give you more certainty about what's running.
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ScotRail operations director David Simpson said: “Like most businesses, ScotRail is not immune to the impact of coronavirus.
“We’ve been working flat out to run a safe and reliable railway in really difficult and rapidly changing circumstances.
“As we continue to battle against the impact of coronavirus, we want to provide customers with a level of certainty, which is why we are introducing some temporary changes to our timetable from Tuesday, January 4 until Friday, January 28 2022.
“We’ve looked to spread these changes out across the day where possible to minimise the impact on our customers, but people should plan ahead and continue to check the train times right up until they arrive at the station.
“We urge anyone travelling with us to stay safe and continue to follow government guidance.
“This includes maintaining good hand hygiene and wearing a face covering for your entire journey.”
Here are the changes in full:
Glasgow - Neilston & Newton
The following services are withdrawn:
- 0734, 0820, 1614, 1704, 1723 Cathcart Circle
- 0657, 1725 Glasgow Central – Neilston
- 0741, 1806 Neilston – Glasgow Central
Glasgow - East Kilbride
The following services are withdrawn:
- 1633, 1707, 1733 Glasgow Central – East Kilbride
- 0743, 0811 East Kilbride – Glasgow Central
Ayrshire, Inverclyde & Stranraer
The following services are amended:
- 0730 Glasgow to Ayr will now call additionally at Miliken Park, Howwood, Lochwinnoch, Glengarnock and Dalry
- 1631 Glasgow to Ayr will now call additionally at Paisley Gilmour St,Johnstone, Miliken Park, Howwood, Lochwinnoch, Glengarnock and Dalry
- 1734 Glasgow Central to Ayr will now call additionally at Johnstone, Howwood, Glengarnock and Dalry
- 0734 Ayr to Glasgow will now call additionally at Newton on Ayr, Barassie, Dalry, Glengarnock and Johnstone
- 0829 Ayr to Glasgow has now been retimed and will depart at 0835
The following services are withdrawn:
- 0745, 0829, 0900, 0932, 1000, 1030, 1200, 1531, 1640, 1717, 1747 Glasgow Central – Ayr
- 0717, 0741, 0853, 1252, 1452, 1525, 1548, 1624, 1824, Ayr – Glasgow Central
- 0814 Kilwinning – Glasgow Central 0722 Largs – Glasgow Central
- 0827, 0906, 0925, 0955, 1155, 1355, 1727, 1826, 1925, Glasgow Central – Gourock
- 0625, 0811, 0954, 1054, 1254, 1424, 1454, 1524, 1549, 1724, 1824 Gourock – Glasgow Central
Lanarkshire
The following services are withdrawn:
- 0650, 0751, 0850, 1550, 1650, 1750, 1824 Glasgow Central to Lanark
- 0653, 0752, 0852, 1649, 1753, 1923 Lanark to Glasgow Central
Glasgow – Edinburgh via Shotts
The following services are withdrawn:
- 1703 Glasgow Central to Edinburgh
- 0758, 1658 Edinburgh to Glasgow Central
Glasgow – Edinburgh via Airdrie/Bathgate
The following services are withdrawn:
- 0753, 0823, 0853 Milngavie – Airdrie
- 0555,1628 Airdrie – Milngavie
- 1722, 1754 Milngavie – Bathgate
- 0606, 0634, 0704, 1504, 1534 Bathgate – Milngavie
- 0639 Hyndland – Edinburgh
- 1451 Garscadden – Edinburgh
- 1803 Edinburgh - Garscadden
- 0552 Dalmuir - Edinburgh
- 0831, 0849, 0920, 1853 Edinburgh – Bathgate
- 1521, 1622 Bathgate – Edinburgh
- 0653, 0723, 1553, 1623, 1653 Milngavie – Edinburgh
- 0738, 1607, 1642, 1704, 1738 Edinburgh - Milngavie
Glasgow – Maryhill/Anniesland
The following services are withdrawn:
- 0703, 0803, 0904, 1607, 1711, 1803, 1902 Anniesland - Glasgow
- 0633, 0735, 0833, 1534, 1642, 1738, 1837 Glasgow - Anniesland
Glasgow – Edinburgh via Cumbernauld & Falkirk Grahamston
The following services are withdrawn:
- 0633, 0735, 0934, 1637, 1735 Edinburgh – Glasgow
- 0700, 0756, 1656, 1756 Glasgow – Edinburgh
Edinburgh – Dunbar/North Berwick
The following services are withdrawn:
- 1756, 1905 North Berwick - Edinburgh
- 1715, 1817 Edinburgh – North Berwick
Edinburgh & Fife
Normal service between Fife and Edinburgh.
Please note following alterations of through services:
- 0658 Tweedbank to Glenrothes starts from Edinburgh at 0809
- 0758 Tweedbank to South Gyle starts from Edinburgh at 0903
- 1549 Glenrothes to Tweedbank terminates at Edinburgh
- 1652 Glenrothes to Tweedbank terminates at Edinburgh
Edinburgh & Glasgow – Stirling/Alloa/Dunblane
The following services are withdrawn:
- 0657, 0749 and 0812 Stirling to Glasgow
- 1633, 1706 and 1735 Glasgow to Stirling
- 0602, 0701, 0759, 0900, 1803, 1900,1959 Dunblane - Edinburgh
- 0549, 0648, 0746, 1649, 1749, 1849 Edinburgh - Dunblane
Edinburgh – Newcraighall-Tweedbank
The following services are withdrawn:
- 0650, 0751, 1653, 1756 Edinburgh – Tweedbank
- 0658, 0758, 0859, 1859 Tweedbank to Edinburgh
Normal service will apply on the following routes:
- Glasgow – Barrhead, Kilmarnock & Carlisle
- Glasgow – Paisley Canal
- Glasgow – Edinburgh via Falkirk High
- Edinburgh & Glasgow – Dundee/Arbroath/Aberdeen
- Edinburgh & Glasgow – Inverness
- Inverness – Inverurie/Aberdeen/Montrose
- North Highlands
- West Highlands
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