ScotRail to resume late weekday trains after pay breakthrough

After progress was made in pay talks with Aslef, more weeknight trains have been added

ScotRail has confirmed the return of some late night rail services after Thursday's breakthrough in pay talks with its drivers.

Weeknight services will be extended from next week following a review of the current temporary timetable.

Passengers have struggled for two weeks after more than 700 services were cut.

Drivers had refused to work on rest days during the dispute between ScotRail and Aslef. The union has now agreed a 5% pay deal in principle.

ScotRail's temporary timetable was introduced on 23 May "to provide greater certainty and reliability for customers" after Aslef said it would ballot for industrial action over pay.

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The disruption left commuters stranded and communities cut off and also affected football fans attending the Scotland v Armenia game.

Under the first version of ScotRail's temporary timetable, the last train from Edinburgh to Glasgow left at 22:15 instead of 23:45.

The last service from Glasgow to Stirling left at 19:49, and to get from Glasgow to Aberdeen travellers had to head to the station for 18:41 instead of 21:40.

On 28 May, ScotRail began to reintroduce additional late evening trains on Fridays and Saturdays.

The latest announcement will mean late services return Monday to Saturday.

ScotRail hopes later services will help support the night-time economy and ease pressure for shift workers across the country while the temporary timetable remains in place.

The train operator is also reviewing changes it can make to rural services in Inverness and will provide an update as soon as possible.

David Simpson, ScotRail's service delivery director, said: "While running a temporary timetable is frustrating, it's encouraging that we have made progress with driver pay talks, and I'm pleased we can extend the use of late-night services for customers.

"We have listened to the feedback from customers and businesses and have acted.

"The temporary timetable is providing customers with greater certainty and reliability as we seek to reach agreement with Aslef."

The operator has been adding more trains since its emergency timetable was introduced on 23 May

On Thursday, ScotRail confirmed it had made progress with driver pay talks after the operator made an improved offer to resolve the dispute.

Members will now vote in a referendum on whether to accept the 5% increase after rejecting offers of 2% and 4.2%. Aslef has recommend acceptance of the offer.

Meanwhile, the RMT union said it had not rejected a similar pay offer to its members.

The union, which represents other rail workers, said no decision had been taken on whether to ballot for strike action.

Following negotiations, ScotRail said RMT officials had rejected the offer, describing the move as "frustrating".

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "This matter has not been considered by our national executive committee and will be put before them next week so they can make a decision."