Scotrail

[RiG]

Disappointing that they've gone ahead with the timetable change that they consulted on several months ago. As suspected it was clearly just a tick box exercise. Having spent hundreds of millions of pounds to shave about 3 minutes off Edinburgh to Glasgow services via Falkirk High some of the journeys from the Central Belt to the Highlands have increased in duration by about 40 minutes with one train from Edinburgh to Inverness now taking almost 4 hours. It's now slower than taking the car which is now probably more environmentally friendly given the carbon belching HSTs that are sometimes used on the route.

Edited May 18, 2022 by RiG

[lubo_blaha]

Had a look at the temporary timetable, looks like a complete shambles. Unless I’ve read it wrong, most routes will have no trains running from Glasgow after the Scotland games coming up.

[Eatmygoal]

1 hour ago, lubo_blaha said:

Had a look at the temporary timetable, looks like a complete shambles. Unless I’ve read it wrong, most routes will have no trains running from Glasgow after the Scotland games coming up.

I get the train to work once, maybe twice, a week. Turned up at Haymarket this morning to find out the times had changed significantly. The change caught me by surprise, but I may well have missed the notices etc on trains and in the station. Do you know the reason behind the move? 

[D.V.T.]

The last train from Central to Paisley Canal next week is 7.12pm. Fucking hell

[Lyle Lanley]

2 hours ago, lubo_blaha said:

Had a look at the temporary timetable, looks like a complete shambles. Unless I’ve read it wrong, most routes will have no trains running from Glasgow after the Scotland games coming up.

Getting home after the play-off game will be a nightmare. 

[Uncle Psychosis]

On 16/05/2022 at 16:01, drs said:

Having introduced the summer timetable yesterday, Scotrail will announce on Thursday a "temporary" reduction of services by around one third.

I for one am ever so grateful for the "strong green lobby" we have here in Scotland. They do such a great job in maintaining our public transport system. 

[drs]

1 hour ago, Eatmygoal said:

I get the train to work once, maybe twice, a week. Turned up at Haymarket this morning to find out the times had changed significantly. The change caught me by surprise, but I may well have missed the notices etc on trains and in the station. Do you know the reason behind the move? 

in normal times the timetable changes twice a year - May and October/November, this was a normal scheduled change.  However because Scotrail has been a complete clusterfuck for years it changes again on Monday.

Good luck to anyone wanting to go anywhere of an evening from next week. 

Edited May 18, 2022 by drs

[highlandcowden]

i always thought one of the uses of the expensive edinburgh gateway station was as a quicker,more convenient way to get to the airport for travellers,bizarre that the early morning(not really but as early as scotrail get)train from inverness now no longer stops there.

im pretty much done with scotrail.even with the price of petrol its as cheap to drive and at least you dont have to put up with their pish

[Dunning1874]

They've previously said this about introducing reduced timetables:

So we'll take away the late night trains which are often the busiest services of the day, and are the only times of day with no alternative to the train! Providing certainty by basically making it impossible for people who don't live in walking distance of a city centre and don't work 9-5 to get to their work or for that matter do anything there at night, and to hell with any major events happening in those cities in the interim. Surely they need to revisit this and revise the timetable to getthe timetabled later trains on, even if it's at the cost of fewer trains during the day?

Or alternatively, they could just agree a deal to pay their employees properly so they can have a functioning timetable.

[Have some faith in Magic]

What an utter shambles. 

Effectively a daytime only train service in Scotland. 

 

[Boghead ranter]

6 minutes ago, Have some faith in Magic said:

Effectively a daytime only train service in Scotland. 

 

At least it'll lessen the amount of drunks on the trains.

[Eatmygoal]

11 hours ago, drs said:

in normal times the timetable changes twice a year - May and October/November, this was a normal scheduled change.  However because Scotrail has been a complete clusterfuck for years it changes again on Monday.

Good luck to anyone wanting to go anywhere of an evening from next week. 

Good to know. I can't believe I didn't know that! Though suppose I've only had a 'regular' commute by train since the turn of the year. Cheers 

[Detournement]

Sturgeon's only policy is managed decline on behalf of the Tories. 

The UK as a whole but particularly Scotland is going to be in some state by 2030.

 

[flyingscot]

These are terrible cuts and will impact loads of people and businesses negatively. Particularly hospitality and night-time economy in central belt but also tourism in terms of West Highland and Far North lines. 

There are mitigating circumstances here, I get training was tough because of covid, notice periods are shorter than training times and staff loss is not even across all depots which poses challenges. Sunday staffing is a longer term issue due to historic factors and new contracts should have been sorted long before now. Rest Day and overtime working was sort of gluing the network together and removing that is really tough. Morale must be rock bottom too. 

I was amazed the SNP took Scotrail back into public ownership in all honesty. I know it was seen as a popular measure but public ownership was not going to single handily fix the structural issues in the rail industry which are exacerbated by covid. It removed the handy buffer of 'it's the nasty Abellio and private sector that cause this' and instead now puts the pressure on the government. Can you give Scotrail staff 7%+ pay rises, but keep NHS and Teachers at lower rises...?

[RiG]

I was looking at the "temporary" timetable and noticed that there seems to be a train that leaves Nairn at 2257 which then calls at Forres and Elgin before running non stop to Aberdeen getting in around 0107. That seems a bit of a bizarre service to keep running  when you consider what other train journeys have been curtailed.

[drs]

At a guess its moving a unit back to Aberdeen for the morning.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

25 minutes ago, RiG said:

I was looking at the "temporary" timetable and noticed that there seems to be a train that leaves Nairn at 2257 which then calls at Forres and Elgin before running non stop to Aberdeen getting in around 0107. That seems a bit of a bizarre service to keep running  when you consider what other train journeys have been curtailed.

That one makes no sense at all. Surely they aren't running an empty train from Inverness to Nairn and I also don't know how a train running nonstop from Elgin to Aberdeen will take more than an hour and a half.

[Detournement]

The last train from Glasgow Central to Hamilton during the week is now 2048. Hundreds of people use the later trains every single day. 

It was obvious when they started cancelling services for a stiff breeze in the winter that the Scottish Government want to downgrade train services. Sturgeon talks about green issues but if you look anywhere in Scotland public transport is in decline and American style suburbs with no amenities that require a car to do anything are mushrooming. 

[welshbairn]

13 hours ago, highlandcowden said:

i always thought one of the uses of the expensive edinburgh gateway station was as a quicker,more convenient way to get to the airport for travellers,bizarre that the early morning(not really but as early as scotrail get)train from inverness now no longer stops there.

im pretty much done with scotrail.even with the price of petrol its as cheap to drive and at least you dont have to put up with their pish

Edinburgh Airport's a pain in the arse to get to and from Inverness, if you can't fly direct from Inverness or Aberdeen the English airports or Schiphol are much quicker and easier.

[drs]

If only there were some Green thinking people helping to run the Central Belt government!