TENS of thousands of Scottish rail commuters face four days of significant disruption starting today after peace talks in the signallers' dispute collapsed.
Nearly 450 staff are due to walk out for 24 hours at noon, bringing much of the network ou
tside the Central Belt to a standstill.
The stoppage – which is due to be repeated at noon on Thursday – comes despite the intervention yesterday of Alex Salmond in an attempt to get Network Rail and the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT) back to the talks at Acas.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are extremely disappointed that the RMT and Network Rail management have failed to resolve the issue.
"The First Minister has been in contact with both sides this afternoon to encourage them to get back round the table and continue talks so as to avoid unnecessary disruption to passengers and services."
The dispute, which has been dragging on since last year, centres on working rosters. A previous strike was staged in March last year.
Both sides started separate talks with Acas in Glasgow on Friday, which resumed yesterday in Perth, but they broke down at lunchtime. The two sides had not met face to face.
First ScotRail trains will be severely affected, with no services running north of Perth or in the south west of Scotland during the stoppage.
Routes including the main line between Edinburgh and Glasgow will see the last trains at 6pm. The news sparked a furious response from passenger groups.
Robert Samson, the Scotland manager of Passenger Focus, the official watchdog, said: "This will cause massive inconvenience to passengers which will be very frustrating.
"The two strikes effectively mean four days of disruption. We urge both parties to get back round the table to resolve the dispute."
David McLetchie, the Scottish Conservatives' chief whip, said last night: "The RMT has a history of militancy, which is reflected in today's developments. These strikes are one of the reasons why people are so hesitant about getting out of their cars and using trains – they undermine all our efforts to improve public transport and promote a greener Scotland."
David Simpson, Network Rail route director for Scotland, said he was "bitterly disappointed" that the strike would go ahead.
He said the talks had broken up because the RMT had demanded that attending missed safety assessments should be optional rather than compulsory.
Mr Simpson said that despite repeated requests over the last four months, the union had also failed to provide any valid examples to substantiate its claims that Network Rail had "abused rostering principles".
He said the RMT's other previously stated reason for a strike – that progression should be based on seniority – was a practice phased out some 15 years ago, "and under today's employment law, was most likely illegal". Mr Simpson said: "We have prepared a contingency train service which aims to reduce the impact on passengers as far as possible."
However, the RMT said Network Rail wanted the right to change rosters at short notice without agreement.
Bob Crow, its general secretary, said that because of the firm's refusal to negotiate, the planned strike action would go now ahead today.
He said: "Network Rail is blatantly trying to unilaterally rewrite agreements without consulting the workforce."
Mr Crow said RMT signallers and signals supervisors in Scotland had voted by a margin of more than two-to-one for strike action over the breakdown in industrial relations, which centred on agreements on rostering and transfers.
The union is also due to introduce an overtime ban for signallers from today.
Mary Grant, the managing director of First ScotRail, said: "We are disappointed the dispute has not been resolved and apologise to all who will be affected by a strike outwith our control."
Reduced capacity and frequency on most routesFIRST ScotRail services will start winding down after this morning's rush hour in preparation for the signallers' 24-hour stoppage from noon.
The train operator said there would be reduced frequency and capacity on those routes where services are being provided.
Contingency plans include replacement bus services on some long-distance routes, such as between Edinburgh and Glasgow and Aberdeen and Inverness.
However, First ScotRail warned passengers that these would be limited by the number of buses available.
The main Edinburgh-Glasgow line will see trains halved in frequency to half-hourly, with the last service leaving each city at 6pm. They will make more stops than normal, so journey times are also likely to be increased.
Many other routes will see fewer trains and services ending by early evening, or mid-evening around Glasgow.
No trains will run on the Glasgow-Oban/Mallaig line, and those north of Perth, during the stoppage.
Sleeper services between Aberdeen, Inverness, Fort William, Edinburgh and London will not run tonight or Thursday night, with the Glasgow-London service the only one operating.
Most National Express East Coast services between London King's Cross and Edinburgh will run, but some will terminate at Berwick-on-Tweed, with a bus connection to and from Edinburgh.
There will also be some changes to Virgin Trains and CrossCountry services.
Bus and coach operators, such as Stagecoach, have said they will have extra vehicles on standby on major routes to cope with additional demand from rail passengers.
Stagecoach said these would include Edinburgh-Glasgow, Fife-Edinburgh, Ayrshire-Glasgow and Stonehaven-Aberdeen, where there had been high demand during previous rail disruption.
Season-ticket holders and those wishing to cancel their travel plans will be offered refunds.
The full article contains 940 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
