Cross-border services to and from Scotland are to be hit by further strike action in a row over pay and Sunday working.
Rail operator TransPennine Express (TPE) has warned travellers to plan ahead as the strike by members of the Rail, Transport and Maritime (RMT) union is expected to disrupt trains across the north and into Scotland on Sunday.
The rail operator says it wil only be running a very limited service on this date and is recommending that people avoid travel and make their journeys either side of Sunday instead.
Conductors have been taking strike action in row over pay and Sunday working.
RMT said the company had refused TPE conductors' request to increase pay for staff coming in on their days off and Sundays.
The union says there is a large discrepancy in pay levels for conductors and other train crews for doing the same thing.
TPE said that anyone that needs to make an essential journey by rail should plan carefully, check before and allow plenty of extra time to travel as any services that do run will be very busy.
Further disruption is expected as rail infrastructure owners Network Rail is carrying out engineering work between Carlisle and Edinburgh/Glasgow on Saturday and Sunday, with a replacement bus service running between Carlisle, Lockerbie, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
RMT strike action is also planned to take place on Sundays up to and including June 5, as well as on Saturday June 4.
Kathryn O’Brien, customer experience director for TransPennine Express said: “With more and more people returning to rail, it’s really disappointing that RMT is continuing to disrupt people’s journeys across our network.
“We are recommending that customers avoid travel again this Sunday because of the planned strike and make their journeys either side of this instead.”
To help customers get where they need to be on Sunday, TPE has arranged ticket acceptance with several other train operators: Northern, Avanti West Coast (between Wigan and Carlisle), CrossCountry (between Leeds and Edinburgh), Lumo (between Newcastle and Edinburgh), LNER (on Sunday only between York and Edinburgh), ScotRail, Hull Trains (between Hull and Doncaster) and Transport for Wales services.
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