Rail services in Scotland are returning to normal after Storm Dudley swept across the country, causing disruption to travel.

ScotRail services were wound down by 4pm on Wednesday due to Met Office amber weather warnings for high winds, though some services began running again on Thursday morning after safety checks on the line.

Scotland was buffeted with strong winds as Storm Dudley hit, with a gust of 74mph recorded at Drumalbin in South Lanarkshire, the Met Office said.

Network Rail Scotland said its engineers have inspected more than 1,500 miles of track over the past 10 hours and that apart from three signalling problems, Scotland’s Railway is “open for business”.

David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “All routes across Scotland’s railway are now open with services returning to normal, following the severe weather during Storm Dudley.

“Network Rail engineers have worked tirelessly to inspect around 1,500 miles of railway, clear debris from the tracks and repair damage to the railway infrastructure.

“Preparations are now under way ahead of Storm Eunice and teams will be working around the clock to deal with any weather-related incidents quickly and efficiently.

“We ask customers who are planning to travel to keep an eye on our website, app or social media feeds for live updates.”

Storm Eunice is due to hit Scotland on Friday, bringing heavy snow and some strong winds to some parts of the country.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for between 3am and 6pm on Friday, covering central Scotland, Tayside and Fife, Strathclyde, south west Scotland, and Lothian and Borders, and it was later expanded northwards to cover Grampian and the Highlands.

Ferry passengers also faced disruption on Thursday.

Caledonian MacBrayne tweeted that a number of ferry services were liable to disruption or cancellation at short notice.

However, the company’s managing director Robbie Drummond said there was an “improving picture” on Thursday.

He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “Yesterday we ran 214 sailings, which was 54% of our timetable.

“We’re looking to improve on that today but clearly the majority of routes are liable to disruption.

“We’re aiming to get as many sailings done today as we can, before the further bad weather sets in for Friday.”

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister John Swinney is due to chair a further meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room on Thursday evening as the co-ordination of the response to storms Dudley and Eunice continues.

He said: “With two storms back to back, we expect severe weather to continue into the weekend across large parts of the country.

“We would strongly urge everyone to continue to pay close attention to the latest travel advice and to exercise caution on the roads.

“Storm Eunice may bring heavy snow and strong winds to much of Scotland from the early hours of Friday, posing further risks to transport and other essential services.

“The Scottish Government’s resilience committee will continue to monitor the situation. We remain in close contact with local authorities and emergency and essential services to ensure people in the affected areas receive the latest information, advice and support where needed.”

The Met Office yellow alert for Friday warns there is a chance of travel delays on roads, possibly with stranded vehicles and passengers, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel and a slight chance that some rural communities could be temporarily cut off.

Forecasters said there is a small chance of power cuts and that other services, such as mobile phone coverage, may be affected.