Derailment disruption set to continue
Significant disruption to Scotrail that has seen hundreds of trains cancelled this weekend could continue until tomorrow, rail chiefs have warned.
Engineers are still working to remove a train which derailed in Coatbridge on Friday night and repair track damage, while some drivers are refusing to work overtime after rejecting a pay offer.
The twin disruption forced the cancellation or amendment of more than 230 trains yesterday – one in five services – including on many lines from Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Around 120 of these were caused by the derailment and 110 by a shortage of drivers.
It is thought that more than 100 services were also halted on Saturday after a train that was not in service came off the tracks on the Glasgow-bathgate-edinburgh line around 9.30pm on Friday.
An emergency timetable has been introduced for services on the line and those to and from Balloch, Helensburgh and Milngavie, with trains curtailed to hourly.
No trains were running between Shettleston in Glasgow and Bathgate, with replacement buses serving the affected stations.
It meant only a skeleton service was running across Glasgow yesterday because the Argyle line – the city’s other east-west route – will not reopen after weeks of engineering work until today.
A Scotrail spokesperson said: “North Clyde line services are cancelled with the exception of an hourly service on the following: Helensburgh-shettleston, Balloch-springburn, Milngavie-anniesland and Bathgate-edinburgh.”
Network Rail said yesterday the line through Coatbridge was expected to remain shut for “several days” and there was a “good chance” the work would extend into today.
A spokesperson said the six-carriage train would have to be re-railed, two sets of points replaced and damage repaired to the track and sleepers.
The drivers’ action over overtime, on which Scotrail’s Sunday services depend, follows their union Aslef rejecting a “derisory” 2.2 per cent pay offer last week and threatening a strike ballot.
Scot rail said it expected cancellations from the shortage of available drivers to continue this week, but there were likely to be far fewer than yesterday.
Lines affected by the cancellations include Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk High, Aberdeen, Glenrothes, Inverness, Dunblane, North Berwick and tweed bank. some services were also halted from Glasgow to Alloa, Ayr, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Lanark, Largs, Paisley Canal and Shotts.
Scotrail service delivery director David Simpson said: “We are reliant on drivers working overtime – known as rest day working – because of delays to training new drivers caused by the pandemic.
“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/rest day working.”
An Aslef spokesperson said: “We remain available for further talks whenever the Scottish Government sanction serious negotiations.”