Strikes, landslips and flooding trigger major rail disruption

Strikes, landslips and flooding caused significant disruption to rail passengers on Thursday with two main lines closed in Scotland and no direct services between Glasgow and London.

They came as new snow and ice warnings for Thursday night for much of Scotland were issued by the Met Office along with a snow warning for Sunday being extended to more areas.

Avanti West Coast train managers who walked out on Thursday are due to strike every Sunday from January 12 until May | Getty

Cross-Border operator Avanti West Coast operated a severely restricted timetable, with Glasgow Central passengers forced to change trains at Lancaster or Preston and the company’s Edinburgh-London services were cancelled.

It was caused by train managers - guards - staging a second walkout over rest day working in a dispute called by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, with further strikes threatened.

Network Rail Scotland engineers were clearing three landslips on the Inverness-Wick/Thurso line | Network Rail Scotland

Disruption was also caused to passengers at Glasgow Central by an empty train developing a fault outside Scotland’s busiest station on Thursday morning, which affected all services there, according to ScotRail Journeycheck.

Meantime, Network Rail Scotland engineers were clearing debris from three landslips on the Far North Line between Inverness and Wick/Thurso, with passengers being transferred to buses.

The blockages are between Lairg and Rogart, Bunchrew, near Inverness, and Beauly, which will keep the section between Inverness and Dingwall closed until Saturday.

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The Highland Main Line between Inverness and Perth remained closed pending inspections after high river levels and flooding halted services on Monday and Tuesday, with engineers giving it the all-clear to re-open shortly before 1pm on Thursday.

Network Rail said water levels on the Balavil Burn in Kingussie had remained too high for inspections of a bridge for damage caused by flooding.

Flooding beside the Inverness-Perth rail line near Kingussie | Network Rail Scotland

The West Highland Line between Glasgow and Oban and Mallaig also underwent safety checks before beiing re-opened shortly before noon.

Network Rail Scotland said: “Huge thanks to our teams for their hard work from the early hours in freezing conditions.”

ScotRail said: “We will now work hard to get train services running as quickly as possible. Services will be subject to delay and cancellation as we get staff and trains into position.”

The disruption and other problems caused more than 70 ScotRail trains to be cancelled or delayed.

Avanti West Coast “strongly advised” passengers to postpone travel because of the strike with those trains running expected to be busy and some stations on the Glasgow-London route were not being served.

Ticket holders can travel on Friday or Saturday instead, or if bookings were made before the walkout was announced on December 17, passengers can get a fee-free full refund.

The RMT has called further strikes for every Sunday from January 12 to May 25, following the first on Hogmanay.

Meantime, the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful pass in Argyll re-opened on Thursday after being closed since Sunday because of an increased landslide risk from heavy rain and strong winds.

Traffic on the main route between Glasgow and Kintyre had been diverted onto the parallel Old Military Road below it, which is single track.

Ian Stewart, north west representative for BEAR Scotland, which maintains the trunk road for Transport Scotland, said: “Monitoring and inspection of the hillside, as well as the improved weather conditions, have enabled us to return traffic to the main A83 trunk road under traffic signal control.”