90% of Scots services to be disrupted as rail strike confirmed
Warning of £ 1 bn economic hit
Rail strikes planned over three days this week will see 90% of Scotrail trains cancelled and cost the economy up to £1 billion, according to estimates.
The RMT union confirmed yesterday the industrial action will go ahead after talks failed to resolve a row over pay, jobs and conditions.
Network Rail staff across the UK, such as signal operators, will strike on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday – with Scotrail already having warned it will only be able to operate a limited service on five routes.
They are all in the Central Belt, with the action leaving vast parts of Scotland without any train services at all.
Final services on the five routes that will operate will “depart well before 18.30” on strike days, Scotrail said, urging travellers to plan ahead for the disruption.
Confirmation of the strike action came as the hospitality sector warned the cost across Britain could amount to £1bn when the impact on the tourism, leisure and theatre sector was considered.
Leon Thompson, of UK Hospitality Scotland, said: “Businesses are still living with the financial shadow of Covid. They desperately need to trade and be able to trade at their optimum level. They are experiencing rising costs on their utilities and across the board with supplies as well.
“It is absolutely imperative they are able to trade at full capacity in order to keep going.
“A lot of visitors use the train to travel around and any disruption just puts people off, and they are just going to change their plans.”
Bosses at Moor of Rannoch hotel and restaurant in Perthshire tweeted that they had suffered “mass cancellations” because of the RMT action.
With 70% of its customers travelling by train to the remote beauty spot, they said they had “lost almost all of our bookings” for the week.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that, “despite the best efforts of our negotiators, no viable settlements to the disputes have been created” in talks with Network Rail.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused the UK Government of “pouring petrol on the fire” over its handling of the rail dispute.
He claimed Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps wanted the strikes to go ahead.
He said: “Businesses will struggle with freight. School exams will be hard to get to. Hospital appointments missed. That’s why I have said the strikes should not go ahead.
“But here’s the truth, Boris Johnson and Grant Shapps want the strikes to go ahead. They want the country to grind to a halt so they can feed off the division.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “The rail strikes that will affect Scotland are not the result of a Scotrail dispute. It is a Uk-wide dispute with UK Government reserved Network Rail and other train operating companies. So it is very concerning to read that UK ministers are blocking fair pay negotiations.”
The Department for Transport said: “The Government committed £16 billion – or £600 per household – to keep our railways running throughout the pandemic while ensuring not a single worker lost their job.
“The railway is still on life support, with passenger numbers 25% down and anything that drives away even more of them risks killing services and jobs.
“Train travel for millions more people is now a choice, not a necessity. Strikes stop our customers choosing rail, and they might never return.”