ScotRail has said it will be reducing its rail services on Sundays from this weekend as it does not have enough drivers.

The rail operator said ongoing pay negotiations meant that drivers were not volunteering for Sunday shifts.

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

Aslef, the drivers' union, accused Scotrail of trying to push new terms and conditions through.

ScotRail said that although they would be running fewer trains on Sundays, most of the trains that do run will have more carriages.

It claimed this would provide almost the same capacity as was offered by the normal services on every route.

Bus services will also be in operation to make connections with ferry services.

Plan ahead

The final timetable will be published on Thursday but ScotRail has advised customers to begin to plan ahead for the weekend from now.

ScotRail said that Sunday services in Scotland were "partly dependent" on voluntary cover being provided by train drivers.

The managing director of ScotRail Alliance, Phil Verster, admitted that it was currently running "a seven day railway with a system of staff rostering that covers only six days", but said that this was a system that the current franchise owner, Abellio, inherited.

He said: "Our customers want the same level of service right throughout the week, so we have to make changes and improve our railway. We cannot expect our train drivers to volunteer for so many Sundays when our rosters should reflect a modern, seven-day railway for Scotland."

The ongoing pay dispute has exposed this gap in the rota, as drivers have not been volunteering for the Sunday shifts.

ScotRail said it had offered drivers a 2.5% pay rise plus a one-off £500 bonus payment to ensure Sunday services were covered. It said that this amounted to a 3.7% total offer for 2015-16.

It also said it had proposed a solution to the Sunday issue by committing to create up to 100 more jobs in Scotland for new train drivers, which it said was an almost 10% increase in current train driver numbers.

'Modernises our railway'

Mr Verster said that ScotRail hoped it could reach agreement with the unions, adding: "A 3.7% total pay offer is substantial and our commitment to make Sundays a part of the working week modernises our railway and is a significant work-life balance benefit for our train drivers.

"We do not want to reduce the number of services on a Sunday or any other day. It is not a decision that we take lightly, but we must be able to give our customers certainty about which services will be running and which ones won't."

Kevin Lindsay, Aslef's organiser in Scotland, said that the pay rise offered was "productivity-based", and that ScotRail "haven't been negotiating properly, or fairly."

He claimed the company was trying to push through a series of measures including reducing drivers' breaks, notifying drivers of shift changes later, reducing safety briefs, and replacing existing agreements with little detail of what might follow.

He also said that the one-off bonus of £500 had been reduced from an initial offer of £1,000, because the money was going to be used for recruiting new drivers.

Mr Lindsay said: "Basically, they are asking train drivers who are already employed to pay for the recruitment of new colleagues.

"It's scandalous what Abellio are trying to do to the railway in Scotland, and I hope the Scottish government will stand up for Scotland over this."