Major disruption to ScotRail trains

Trains across the country have been cancelled

About a third of ScotRail's trains have been cancelled due to a lack of drivers willing to work on a Sunday.

The rail operator has published an amended timetable which lists the services affected.

Several lines will see trains run on a reduced frequency, while buses will carry passengers on some other routes.

ScotRail has said that ongoing pay negotiations meant that not enough drivers were volunteering for Sunday shifts.

It has pledged to ensure trains that do run will have more carriages than would normally be the case on a Sunday.

Replacement bus services, such as this one at Stirling station, are running on some routes

The franchise was taken over earlier this year by Dutch firm Abellio, which said it had inherited a seven-day railway that only had a six-day rota system for drivers, with Sunday services dependent on volunteers.

On Wednesday, ScotRail said it had offered drivers a 2.5% pay rise and a one-off bonus, and would increase driver numbers.

'Disrespectful'

But the Aslef union accused the operator of trying to push new terms and conditions through.

The union's Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said: "Abellio have come in with a disrespectful attitude towards staff, redundancies by stealth and an aggressive management style.

"Train drivers are not going to put up with that, they're going to stand up for themselves and their terms and conditions."

ScotRail's Sunday services depend on drivers volunteering to work

Rob Shorthouse, ScotRail's director of communications, advised people to check before travelling.

He added: "We have looked at where the capacity is, where the demand is, and we've strengthened those trains wherever we can with more carriages.

"Before they set off people should take a quick look at our website, have a look at the new timetables and see how the changes affect them."

Scotrail has pledged to do their best to protect travel to major sporting events such as the Open at St Andrews later this month if the dispute has not been resolved by then.

The Scottish government has called on both sides in the dispute to resolve the issue as quickly as possible in order to avoid further disruption.

Scottish Labour's Transport spokesman David Stewart: "We are just months into the new franchise agreement and already Scottish commuters are having to deal with disrupted services. It simply isn't good enough.

"With millions of pounds of taxpayers cash invested in the franchise, the very least we would expect is existing services to be running on time, or even running at all."