COMMUTERS are facing severe disruption this week as ScotRail remove all Fife trains from their services.

No trains will run in the Kingdom tomorrow, Thursday, or Saturday due to strike action by Network Rail staff.

ScotRail are urging customers to only travel if necessary on these days and should consider alternative options.

The rail operators will be running limited services on five routes in the Central Belt, with no trains running outwith this area.

Trains will only run between the hours of 7.30am and 6.30pm, with final services departing well before this time.

Those running on these days will be:

Edinburgh – Glasgow via Falkirk High: two trains per hour

Edinburgh – Bathgate: two trains per hour

Glasgow – Hamilton/Larkhall: two trains per hour

Glasgow – Lanark: two trains per hour

Edinburgh – Glasgow via Shotts: one train per hour

RMT, the Union which represents transport workers, announced the industrial action earlier this month following a pay dispute with Network Rail and some Department for Transport train operating companies.

Many workers that are due to take part occupy safety-critical roles and, as such, it will not be possible for ScotRail to run the vast majority of services.

They expect that disruption will last several days, including those following strike action, caused by the reopening of signal boxes at different times across the day.

Signal boxes are key pieces of infrastructure located across the rail network that control train movements, and their use is critical to ensure that the railway can operate safely.

While large signalling centres in the Central Belt will be able to operate from 07.15, this will not be the case elsewhere due to the staggered nature of shift patterns.

David Simpson, ScotRail Service Delivery Director, said: "It is very unfortunate to see such widespread disruption across the whole of the Great Britain rail network and we know this will be frustrating for ScotRail customers.

"Regrettably, this strike action by RMT members of Network Rail means that we will not be able to operate the vast majority of our services during the period of strike action.

"We’re reminding customers to expect significant disruption to services this week, including on the days between, and following, strike action which will impact customers travelling to events across the country.

"On the five routes where we are able to operate a very limited service on strike days, we’re urging customers to only travel if they really need to, and to seek alternative means of transport where possible."

The disruption caused by strike action will impact customers travelling to events such as The Eagles at Murrayfield on Wednesday, June 22, Colourbox Festival at Bellahouston Park on Saturday, June 25, and Liam Gallacher at Hampden Park on Sunday, June 26.

ScotRail will be issuing specific travel advice for each event in the coming days, and customers are advised to check the ScotRail app or visit scotrail.co.uk for the latest information before travelling.