RAIL unions and campaign groups in Scotland have united to fight cuts to ticket office opening hours.

The coalition represents workers, passengers, disabled people, environmentalists, women and pensioners against a plan by operator Abellio Scotrail to cut ticket office opening hours at 117 stations, and complete closure of three offices.

The cuts make up a third of opening hours at stations affected.

Scotrail returns to public control when Abellio’s franchise ends on March 31.

RMT, Aslef, TSSA, TUC Scotland, Disabled People Against Cuts, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Inclusion Scotland, Scottish Pensioners Forum, the Scottish Women’s Convention, We Own It, Bring Back British Rail and Get Glasgow Moving have formed the coalition.

They said in a statement: “We believe these proposed cuts will worsen passenger service, accessibility, safety and security, and will hinder Scotland’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Already, disabled people are less likely to use the railways, and these substantial cuts would worsen accessibility by significantly reducing the times that disabled and elderly passengers could guarantee that staff will be present at the station.”

They said the cuts would “worsen the quality of services available to passengers.”

“With just weeks to go until the Scottish government is running the Scotrail franchise directly in public ownership, we call on you to scrap the proposed cuts to Scotrail ticket offices and instead commit to investing in an affordable, accessible, reliable and properly staffed rail network for Scotland,” the coalition said.

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “Rather than make misleading claims, ministers will await the consultation findings before making any final decision on this matter.”

Scottish Labour will on Thursday force a vote on the SNP’s “shambolic handling” of rail services, calling for Parliament to condemn fare rises and for the government to reverse cuts to services.