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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Debbie Hall

Train service boost during Edinburgh Festival

People in West Lothian who want to take in a show throughout the Edinburgh Festivals will be able to take advantage of more late-night trains - but these could still be impacted by strikes.

ScotRail has announced it will run later trains and extra carriages on services to and from Edinburgh.

Extra carriages e added to key trains to and from the Capital to Glasgow Central, which takes in Uphall, Bathgate and Livingston.

The additional late-night trains will run at 00.03am and 00.33am on the Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High, which runs through Linlithgow.

However, the train operator is warning of potential significant disruption during the festivals due to planned strike action by Network Rail members of the RMT trade union.

The RMT union announced strike action for Thursday, August 18 and Saturday, August 20.

This dispute does not involve ScotRail staff, however, should the strike action go ahead as planned, it will have a major knock-on effect on the train operator’s ability to provide services as the RMT planned action will involve Network Rail staff in Scotland.

Disruption to ScotRail services would not be confined to the days of strike action themselves but will also affect the day before and after.

ScotRail will confirm its plan and travel advice for customers for the days affected in the lead up to any strike action.

David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “This year’s Edinburgh Festivals are set to be special as they celebrate their 75th anniversary, and we’re thrilled to be able to, once again, play our part in making it a success.

"We’ll be doing all we can to help showcase Edinburgh, and Scotland, to the world, including running extra late-night services and adding more seats to trains to get people to and from the events.

“Our trains are going be extremely busy, so we’re encouraging everyone visiting the capital to plan their journey in advance, and to buy their train tickets before they board using our mTicket system on our mobile app.

“Festivalgoers should be aware of the potential of significant disruption during the festivals due to planned strike action by Network Rail members of the RMT trade union.

"We’ll let customers know our plans and travel advice in the coming weeks, should this planned strike action go ahead.”

.Customers are encouraged to plan their journey in advance and purchase their tickets through the ScotRail app as part of the mTickets system.

This means people can buy their tickets from the comfort of their home, or on the way to the station and it will instantly become available on their mobile device.

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