Alternative Route Stirling - Glasgow Queen Street

[stuart]

Earlier today I was following the progress of the 1T98 0845 Inverness - Glasgow QS (because someone I knew was travelling on it) and I was intrigued to see that from Stirling, instead of taking what I would regard as the "normal" route (via Croy, Lenzie and Bishopbriggs), it took an alternative route from Greenhill Lower via Cumbernauld and Springburn. This was a slower option (43 minutes) than the first (32 minutes) according to the WTT for that train and the following Aberdeen - Glasgow QS service, which left Stirling 15 minutes after the Inverness train, but arrived in Glasgow just 4 minutes later.

Does anyone know if this was a one-off, or whether this "diversion" has been in use for some time? It seems perverse when the operator is constantly trying to shave a few minutes off journey times by cutting intermediate stops at lightly-used stations to deliberately add 11 minutes by using a "scenic route". I can of course see that diverting at Greenhill Lower avoids path conflict with Edinbugh-Glasgow services at Greenhill, and perhaps it's just a simple matter of "not enough paths".

 

[Mag_seven]

Earlier today I was following the progress of the 1T98 0845 Inverness - Glasgow QS (because someone I knew was travelling on it) and I was intrigued to see that from Stirling, instead of taking what I would regard as the "normal" route (via Croy, Lenzie and Bishopbriggs), it took an alternative route from Greenhill Lower via Cumbernauld and Springburn. This was a slower option (43 minutes) than the first (32 minutes) according to the WTT for that train and the following Aberdeen - Glasgow QS service, which left Stirling 15 minutes after the Inverness train, but arrived in Glasgow just 4 minutes later.

Does anyone know if this was a one-off, or whether this "diversion" has been in use for some time? It seems perverse when the operator is constantly trying to shave a few minutes off journey times by cutting intermediate stops at lightly-used stations to deliberately add 11 minutes by using a "scenic route". I can of course see that diverting at Greenhill Lower avoids path conflict with Edinbugh-Glasgow services at Greenhill, and perhaps it's just a simple matter of "not enough paths".

Seems that its in the WTT (Working Timetable) to run that way everyday. A reason for this could be to retain driver route knowledge via Cumbernauld.

 

[scotraildriver]

That's exactly it. It is to retain route knowledge of Perth crews via Cumbernauld in case of diversion .

 

[Highlandspring]

1T99 1447 Inverness - Glasgow Queen Street is also booked via Cumbernauld. Either of these services may be diverted via the E&G at very short notice, typically due to late running.

 

[Class 170101]

I don't think there is a path either via the Main Route that qwould be compliant with the Train Planning Rules so they go via Cumbernauld instead.

 

[47271]

I use this train at least once a week and the Cumbernauld routeing is tedious to say the least.

It's almost as if someone is trying to make Perth-Glasgow trains as slow and frustrating as Perth-Edinburgh services...

 

[stuart]

Thanks for the replies: I hadn't thought of route knowledge as a possible explanation. Annoying as it is, this does make sense: better an odd 11 minutes on a regular basis than a long delay (or even a termination) in the event of a problem on the main line. Presumably the odd routing ties in with the out-of-sequence reporting numbers.

Having said all that, I'd be tempted to jump ship at Perth (ticket permitting), grab a coffee and pick up the next service from Aberdeen. After adding on the 1T98's intermediate stops between Perth and Stirling one would get 20 minutes of free time at Perth in exchange for 4 minutes at the Glasgow end.