There was more misery for Scottish rail travellers yesterday, despite hopes that ScotRail drivers will soon accept an improved pay offer.

The nationalised train operator cancelled about 320 services on Sunday because of a continued shortage of train drivers.

It advised people to "consider making their own arrangements".

The BBC says that ScotRail put extra late-night trains on major routes on Friday and Saturday, but said it was too complex a situation to repeat that on Sunday.

The ongoing pay row with drivers has put a stop to the overtime shifts the train operator currently relies on.

The ScotRail website said 27 of its 41 routes were experiencing major disruption.

The temporary extension of the emergency timetable for Friday and Saturday was announced after the company was criticised for slashing services on its weekday routes by a third and stopping services hours early.

Economist Tony Mackay has estimated the dispute could cost the Scottish economy between £75million and £80million every week from a combination of the fall in economic output and extra money having to be spent by travellers to get to their destinations.

It emerged at the end of last week that there could be signs of a breakthrough, though a formal deal could still be weeks away.

Drivers have now been offered a 4.2% pay rise and improved conditions, after negotiations between the train company and Aslef.

The union's Scottish organiser, Kevin Lindsay, has said the improved pay offer would be put to members for their consideration.

ScotRail, which brought in the reduced timetable last week to cope with the driver shortages, said the new pay offer was final and could not be improved.

The changed timetable saw almost 700 fewer train services a day on the Scottish network - causing a major headache for tens of thousands of travellers north of the border.

Mr Lindsay stated: "We have negotiated a pay offer of 4.2%, a three-year no compulsory redundancy deal and a number of other improvements.

"These will now be put to our members for their consideration."

The full consultation is likely to last up to four weeks and will be followed by a formal vote.

Mr Lindsay said it was up to train drivers to decide whether to return to working overtime in the meantime.

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