Scotland calendar: Scottish fans may face travel chaos after World Cup qualifiers in Ukraine

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Thousands of Scottish football fans attending one of the team’s biggest matches in 20 years are facing the prospect of travel chaos due to the Scotland dispute.

The tentative schedule, which will result in a cut of almost a third of rail services, is still expected to take effect when Scotland play Ukraine at Hampden Park in Glasgow on 1 June.

This means that services from Glasgow to Dundee and Aberdeen will end before the crucial World Cup playoff match begins at 7.45 pm.

Even members of the Edinburgh-based Scottish Legion will not be able to return home if the game goes into overtime, as the last train from Queen Street to Waverley departs at 10:15 pm.

ScotRail is now addressing calls to offer additional services on match night to prevent thousands of fans from getting stuck after missing the last few trains to their destinations.

The new schedule will go into effect on Monday amid a pay dispute with the Asleaf union that has resulted in drivers refusing to work overtime or rest days.

This will result in some 694 services being indefinitely disrupted on weekdays, with the latest trains departing hours earlier than usual on many major routes.

Earlier this week Nicola Sturgeon apologized for the impact of the controversy on travelers, just seven weeks after Scotland’s nationalization.

Scottish Conservative Transport spokesman Liam Kerr said: “The play-offs with Ukraine have been Scotland’s biggest World Cup clash since we last participated in the tournament in 1998, so the SNP and Scotland need to ensure that attendance Thousands of fans could return home in the night.

“We know that a large part of the tartan army comes from our northern cities, so it is necessary to provide them with an appropriate one. It is completely unacceptable that the last trains to Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth even before the start of the match Goes out.”

Transportation Minister Jenny Gilruth is under increasing pressure to intervene directly in the dispute, which could go on for weeks or months.

But on Friday he rejected the idea, arguing that it was important that there was no political interference in the talks between Scottrale and Aslef and demanding that the union return to the negotiating table.

In response, Aslef accused him of a “political game”, with organizer Kevin Lindsay saying the union had been expecting further talks for more than a fortnight.

“The time has come for ministers to halt the tour and order Scotland to scale back its attempt to cut the timetable, which is more about bags than passengers, and urgent and meaningful conversations about pay.” For to return to the table,” he said. said. couple.

Phil Campbell, Scotland’s head of customer operations, said: “In preparation for the game, we will be providing travel advice for the next Scottish national teams.”

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