Train passengers are facing three days of travel misery after rail workers voted to strike over plans for a new service.

More than 550 staff will walk-out later this month and next month for 24 hours after plans to use a driver-only service on the new Airdrie to Bathgate line.

Union chiefs have condemned the plans accusing ScotRail of having a "scandalous attitude" to the safety of passengers and staff.

But ScotRail said the whole dispute lies on who opens and shuts the doors on the train and slammed the union for staging one of the strikes during a major sporting event.

Trains normally carry conductors but the new £300million service, which launches in December, will be operated by a driver and ticket examiner.

In a ballot on Tuesday members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) voted 379 to 80 to strike. They will walk-out on February 20, March 1 and 13. The Scotland v England RBS 6 Nations game takes place at Murrayfield on March 13.

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said: “This overwhelming vote shows just how angry RMT members are that a company that gave its shareholders £18million last year is prepared to reduce safety standards for the sake of just £300,000.

“Anyone in doubt of the crucial role played by guards need only read First group’s own rigorous training manual – and railway workers know from bitter experience that properly trained guards save lives.

“We know that downgrading guards’ safety duties on the Airdrie-Bathgate line is the thin end of the wedge, and we have already exposed Scotrail’s systematic breach of its contractual obligation to run trains with at least two staff members aboard."

He added: “I hope that rail users in Scotland will understand that we are making a stand for their safety as well as our members’, and join with us in demanding that the Scottish Government steps in to stop First Scotrail putting cash before safety."

A ScotRail spokesman denied the claims, saying: “That’s nonsense. The system is safe and has run for more than 25 years. And the new services are subsidised, paid for by the Scottish Government – so the payment to ScotRail for running them will reflect only the costs of doing so.

The spokesman added: “It is not only cynical but incomprehensible that the RMT has chosen to strike on one of Scotland’s biggest sporting days.”

He said trains on the Glasgow to Drumgelloch route, which will now continue to Edinburgh because of the Government-subsidised link, are driver-operated.

If the trains on the new line are to be operated by conductors, £1.4million will need to be spent converting the trains, he claimed.

ScotRail said it intends to run at least nine out of every 10 trains during any industrial dispute.