Union leaders have warned of the 'worst cuts to rail services since the dark days of Beeching" by newly-nationalised ScotRail amidst an ongoing pay dispute which has led to hundreds of service cancellations due to driver shortages.
Rail workers' union RMT said the newly nationalised operator was proposing "a 30% cut in trains" for several months.
The Beeching cuts of the 1960s was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. It spelt the end for thousands of stations and hundreds of branch lines.
The Beeching report recommended taking an axe to about a third of the network - 5,000 miles of track, including hundreds of branch lines, 2,363 stations and tens of thousands of jobs.
Instead, it would concentrate on the things trains did well. Fast journeys between the cities.
ScotRail said that it was looking at how it can deliver "greater timetable certainty and reliability for customers" and will say more in the coming days.
In the meantime, ScotRail said that industrial action "risks putting people off traveling by trains" at a time when "we need to do everything we can to get customers back onto the railway and revenue in the door".
ScotRail has urged trade unions to remain at the negotiating table so they can reach an "agreement that delivers for staff, customers, and the taxpayer".
The cuts concerns come as the newly-nationalised train operator blamed a a "significant number" of pay dispute train drivers as over 400 services were cancelled in the space of just three days at the weekend with a further 100 yesterday.
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.
ScotRail has said it would announce its plans in the coming days.
It comes a week after the minister-controlled ScotRail launched a half-price rail fare offer to try and entice people back onto trains in the wake of Covid pandemic restrictions being lifted.
ScotRail has been blamed cancellations on 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.
Now it is feared that ScotRail is now preparing to make cuts to the timetable of up to a third.
The train drivers union Aslef said if the true it would represent the biggest cut to Scotland’s rail services since the ‘Beeching’ cuts of the 1960s.
They say the reported plan from ScotRail and the Scottish Government will see services cut across the country "leaving communities isolated" as hundreds of trains are removed from service.
Kevin Lindsay, Aslef’s Scottish organiser said: "These cuts are the biggest cuts to services since the dark days of Beeching. We will not stand aside and watch our railway being dismantled as a consequence of appalling mismanagement and a failure to recruit enough drivers."
"If the Scottish Government plan goes ahead to cut trains it will fatally undermine their own climate targets, which needs a huge shift in people from cars to trains, and rip up all of the commitments they gave in relation to the future and importance of rail at COP26."
"Aslef has repeatedly called for the resumption of talks over pay and other outstanding issues but the Scottish Government has refused to allow ScotRail to get back round the table.
"Today we are calling for the immediate withdrawal of these proposed service cuts, and the urgent resumption of negotiations to discuss pay, conditions and how we can work together to end the driver shortage.
"We recently produced ‘A Vision for Scotland’s Railways’ which would deliver a clean, green, reliable and affordable railway that all of Scotland can be proud of. ScotRail and the Scottish Government should work with us to help implement this visionary plan for our rail services."
Mick Hogg, RMT Scotland organiser described the cuts plan as an "absolute shambles".
"We've rejected the ScotRail offer as unacceptable and a kick in the teeth to RMT members who went above and beyond keeping the train services running - particularly during the pandemic," he said.
Mr Hogg said he had recommended that the RMT ballot members for action short of a strike - with any action co-ordinated with the drivers' union Aslef.
Alongside a ballot of UK workers over Network Rail cuts, which closes on 26 May, Mr Hogg said it was "safe to say that industrial carnage is days away".
Last Sunday, driver shortages were estimated to have hit 100 services in Scotland.
It is estimated that over 700 services have been cancelled since then.
Train drivers union Aslef is preparing for a strike ballot over pay and say the ScotRail system has always been "understaffed", running on a six-day a week basis, meaning it is relying on drivers working out of hours, including Sundays, as they are run 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 decided last year to take ScotRail under direct state control from April 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.
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.
David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “We are experiencing a driver shortage, which means some services will be cancelled. We are very sorry for the disruption and inconvenience this will cause and understand customer frustration when this happens.
“Unfortunately, since the drivers’ union ASLEF announced it would ballot for strike action, a significant number of drivers, but not all, have declined to make themselves available for overtime or rest day working. While rest day working is entirely voluntary this does mean we do not have the number of drivers available to operate the full timetable.
“We are currently reliant on drivers working overtime or on their rest days because of delays to training new drivers caused by the pandemic. This is something experienced by all operators across Britain.
“ScotRail has made a good offer that could potentially deliver an overall pay package worth a 7 per cent increase for staff. This gives hard-working staff a well-deserved pay rise, recognises the cost-of-living challenges faced by families across the country, and delivers value for the taxpayer.”
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