NEWLY-NATIONALISED ScotRail has blamed a "significant number" of pay dispute train drivers as over 400 services were cancelled in the space of just three days.

The new minister-controlled ScotRail has been hit with an escalated wave of rail chaos since Friday, with around 220 cancellations on Sunday alone, including on the key Glasgow to Edinburgh route, due to driver shortage issues.

Before Sunday's cancellation escalation, there were a further estimated 160 service cancellations over Friday and Saturday.

A further 135 other services have been curtailed since Friday, with train carriages cut so they carried fewer people, with the blame placed on driver shortages.

And ScotRail was blaming a "significant number of drivers" who had declined to make themselves available for overtime or rest day working due to a pay dispute. It comes as a separate pay dispute meant that there were no Transpennine Express operating on the Anglo Scottish West Coast Mainline on Sunday.

Transport minister Jenny Gilruth has said the Scottish Government were looking to phase out the practice of rest day working, describing it as "outdated".

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The latest spate of cancellations a week afterScotRail launched a half-price rail fare offer to try and entice people back onto trains in the wake of Covid pandemic restrictions being lifted.

Passengers are have told how they have been left stranded as there have been no alternatives laid on for cancelled services.

On Sunday, ScotRail was unable to provide rail replacement transport at all to cover cancellations on at least two routes, from Glasgow to Stranraer and Edinburgh to North Berwick due to lack of availability. On other worst hit routes, including the world famous West Highland Line, Glasgow to Aberdeen and Edinburgh to Inverness services, passengers were told there was "very limited replacement transport".

One passenger said they had been left stranded in Glasgow because the cancellation of a service to Inverness.

"They are not doing replacement services because there are so many cancelled. It's a joke. Bus is fully booked so will have to ride it out try and get to Aberdeen then to Inverness," she said.

Other badly hit routes included the Glasgow to Paisley Canal service - where ticket acceptance was said to be available with bus company McGills.

Last Sunday, driver shortages were estimated to have hit 100 services in Scotland.

It is estimated that up to 600 services have been cancelled since then.

Some 150 extra daily services were added as part of ScotRail’s new timetable from Sunday.

Train drivers union Aslef Aslef say the ScotRail system has always been "understaffed", meaning it is relying on drivers working out of hours, including Sundays, as the services runs on a six-day a week basis not seven.

The union last month welcomed the rail operator being taken into public ownership for the first time in 25 years.

The Scottish Government announced decided last year to take ScotRail under direct state control stripping Abellio of the franchise three years early in the wake of continuing outcry over service failings and rising costs to the taxpayer.

It came after a 2018 winter timetable with the introduction of high-speed trains and new class 385 electric trains ushered in months of cancellations and disruption to services with much of it put down to staff shortages partly due to training to deal with the new trains and timetable.

The Herald: ScotRail has launched a 50 per cent off ticket sale.

ScotRail was forced to submit a plan by February, 2019, to address falling performance levels which, if unsuccessful, could result in a breach of contract and lead to Abellio losing the franchise early.

The Scottish Government is now in charge of the rail operator, which runs around 2,400 train services each day through an arms-length company ScotRail Trains Ltd.

ScotRail apologised for the "disruption and convenience" caused.

"We're reliant on drivers working overtime or on rest days because of delays to training new drivers caused by the pandemic. This affects all operators across Britain."

It said it would only cancel train services as a "last resort" after looking at all other options.

"ScotRail has made a good offer that could potentially deliver an overall pay package worth a 7% increase. This gives hard-working staff a well-deserved pay rise, recognises cost-of-living challenges faced by families across the country, and delivers value for the taxpayer.

"Unfortunately, since the drivers’ union ASLEF announced its intention to recommend a ballot for strike action, a significant number of drivers have declined to make themselves available for overtime or rest day working."

But the pay offer actually only amounts to 2.2% with the rest a discretionary performance-based payment.

It includes a “top-up revenue sharing arrangement” that ScotRail has said could potentially raise the pay increase to more than 7%. But it would only apply where revenue targets are exceeded.

The latest ScotRail issues come in the wake of concerns over a potential summer of disruption hitting ScotRail and cross-border services on the railways through a series of disputes over pay and potential job losses.

Cross-border services run by rail operator TransPennine Express (TPE) face a new round of disruption over the next four weekends as the Rail, Transport and Maritime (RMT) union escalates strike action over pay.

TransPennine Express was recommending that rail users avoid travelling and make their journey on either Saturday or Monday.

Thousands of Network Rail workers are also being balloted for further strike action, which could bring Scottish services to a standstill, amid safety concerns over plans to cut hundreds of maintenance jobs.

Ms Gilruth said: "We want ultimately our rail unions to have a vested interest, a stake, in the vision of the new ScotRail and what that looks like, what that means for them and their members and the staff who work on our trains. I think that is hugely important.

"At the moment rest day working continues to be needed. We are looking to phase out that practice."