Nick Brown: "Good news for passengers"

That would mean that basic pay would rise from �23,000 to �28,000 by January 2004.

Aslef's Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay said he was delighted with the outcome.

Scotrail's managing director Nick Brown described the results as good news for the company and its staff but above all the passengers.

If drivers had rejected the offer, the next one-day strike would have taken place on Wednesday 15 May, the day of the Champions' League final in Glasgow.

Services cut

ScotRail has been running a reduced timetable which was introduced in January, cutting services by about 25%.

The cuts were implemented after drivers refused to do overtime or work on rest days as part of the pay dispute.

Although working on these days is voluntary, ScotRail depended on the practice to maintain its normal timetable.

A series of strikes were staged

The company has said that it hopes to return to normal service as soon as possible.

But even if drivers approve the deal it could be September before the full timetable is restored.

ScotRail says this is because it does not know how many drivers will work overtime.

"We will not rush into full timetable operation without first assessing the level of return to rest day working among drivers," said a spokesman this week.

However, he did voice confidence that 90% of services would be running as normal within a matter of weeks.

The company has also pointed out that a training programmes were now well behind schedule - although Aslef argued that the company needed more drivers.