ScotRail today pledged it will be “business as usual” despite growing indications that the RMT will strike during the school holidays at Easter in Scotland.
Steve Montgomery, managing director of ScotRail, said the RMT would show “a blatant disregard for families if it deliberately targets the holidays.”
He added: “Such an action will make us even more determined than ever to keep Scotland’s railway running. It will be business as usual.”
Mr Montgomery’s comments follow ScotRail running more than 95% of services to ensure rugby fans got to and from the Scotland v England Calcutta Cup game at the weekend.
He said that choosing the Easter school holidays to strike would be even more cynical than trying – and failing – to spoil one of Scotland’s biggest events in the sporting calendar, with more than 11,000 rugby fans carried to Edinburgh Waverley and Haymarket.
Of signs that there will be further strikes, Mr Montgomery added: “We will again make every effort to ensure that the travelling public – and the many families who love to use the train for Easter days out – will get as robust a service as possible.”
They are expected to follow UK-wide industrial action by the RMT which could take place over the Easter weekend, Friday 2 April-Monday 5 April in a separate dispute connected to maintenance workers employed by Network Rail.
The strikes in Scotland are over having ticket examiners rather than conductors as the second person on services on the new £300m line between Glasgow and Edinburgh via Airdrie and Bathgate.
The new line, due to open in December, will create 130 new jobs – and the trains are the same as those which have operated in Scotland for 25 years.
ScotRail remains available for meaningful talks at any time.
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