Edinburgh rail workers in wildcat strike

The action at Edinburgh's Waverly station was taken in a dispute over the provision of cover for breaks. David Simpson, of Network Rail in Scotland, said the "deliberately disruptive, unprovoked action" was "completely unacceptable".

Ian MacIntyre, the RMT's regional organiser for Scotland, was reported as saying: "Our members took the action in the interests of safety.

"They felt they had been working intensively, looking at screens to ensure the safe movement of trains, working in the same way as air traffic controllers. After four hours, they felt they had to have their personal needs break."

Mr Simpson said the workers left their posts at about 1225 GMT, returning to work at 1335 GMT. Their action resulted in all services being brought to a controlled and safe stop, with no services running through the station for an hour.

He added: "We understand that this action was taken due to a disagreement within the signalling centre over arrangements for cover during breaks.

Failed discussion
Mr Macintyre, the RMT's regional organiser for Scotland, told the media: "Our members took the action in the interests of safety.

"They felt they had been working intensively, looking at screens to ensure the safe movement of trains, working in the same way as air traffic controllers.

"After four hours they felt they had to have their personal needs' break."

He added that the signallers had been trying to reach agreement with management over cover for breaks but this had failed to happen.