ScotRail to stop services early on Wednesday over as Storm Dudley sweeps across Scotland

ScotRail will shutdown the vast majority of its services early on Wednesday over fears of the impact of Storm Dudley.

The train operator has come to the decision amid concerns over the welfare of customers and staff as the country is braced for heavy wind and rain.

Domestic services will stop running at 4pm when the worst of the storm is expected to hit.

The only journeys continuing as normal will be on the Far North, Kyle of Lochalsh, and Aberdeen to Inverness lines because those lines are located in areas not covered by the weather warning.

ScotRail say the strength of the winds expected could damage infrastructure, blowing debris and trees onto tracks and damaging equipment such as overhead electric power lines and signals.

Network Rail will have additional engineers out across the network ready to react to problems and will check all affected lines for damage before reintroducing services as quickly as possible.

Disruption on some lines is expected to continue until mid-morning on Thursday and passengers are being urged to check their journey before travelling.

David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “We know the impact that the earlier withdrawal of services will have on customers but it’s a necessary step to ensure the safety of our staff and customers due to the severe weather.

“With services being withdrawn in the afternoon, we’d ask all customers to carefully plan ahead.”

Further significant weather is being forecast for most of Scotland on Friday and ScotRail say weather specialists are monitoring the conditions.

Passengers are urged to continue to check their journey before travelling over the course of the weekend.