Ongoing ScotRail disruption - Day to day discussion and updates.

[Blindtraveler]

And there will be thousands more just like you from Dumfries to dunblane, wick to West Calder who simply will never return. On executive and management salaries, I would imagine there be a mighty big noise if they tried to offer them the sort of pay deal that the frontline workforce were supposed to be content with, but who actually does more for the business I wonder? Driving a desk and leather upholstered chair is a bit different to a a320 or HST.


If the Scottish government thought that Natrail I was going to be all photoshoots and good publicity then they were very wrong. The speed at which they completely broke and already somewhat shakey service after years of transport Scotland micromanagement and abellio mismanagement, personal opinion only you understand, was phenomenal. I do hope that we have a public enquiry into all this but quite honestly even if we don't I'd simply settle for a train service that work just about as well as the one we had pre-covid did. Big ask I suspect now

 

[Peter0124]

I just can't believe this is still happening

 

[Deltic1961]

Thing is as a family we want to support the rail system but its becoming more of a hassle. We were happy to take the train even though its more expensive than petrol but I get the distinct impression neither SG or Scotrail want my money or value me as a customer.

I remember the days when First ran the service and I moaned at the time, but most of the delays were infrastructure and not the franchisee.

Things are far far worse than they were 10 years ago.

 

[Falcon1200]

Interesting seeing the Scotrail executive salaries considering its a poor poor service

Salaries at such high levels should have a large proportion paid only on meeting performance targets, which, for a public organisation such as Scotrail, should be externally set and monitored.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Relatives attempted to travel by train from brunstane into Edinburgh city Centre yesterday twice. It's my cousin and her teenage daughter who is extremely battle scarred and weary after GCSEs and they've come up to Edinburgh for for a weekend break. First two attempts the train was cancelled and of course by the time it did eventually roll in it was so full of passengers that the guard open the doors and and said that unless anyone was getting out off there was no chance. That's a young person with a 16 to 25 railcard who's now going to tell all her mates who might come to Edinburgh for study or pleasure to simply not bother and get the bus now, bearing in mind that this is someone who lives in northern land and so is accustomed to a poor service, this is even worse

 

[PaulMc7]

I'm being realistic about this but don't expect improvements to the current situation for 18-24 months. Covid rates are going up again, the passenger load just isn't there and drivers are still being trained. It's unavoidable at the minute.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I would disagree with you on the passenger load, it is definitely there at the moment but won't be in 24 months time

Hindi says that this is what they wanted all along so they can cut services to a level not seen for decades and blame us

 

[PaulMc7]

I would disagree with you on the passenger load, it is definitely there at the moment but won't be in 24 months time

Hindi says that this is what they wanted all along so they can cut services to a level not seen for decades and blame us

Covid has hit for longer and harder than people thought it would so it's changed journey patterns for a lot of people. The morning peak especially has vastly changed on the bus and train from my experience. Trains just like the bus will need to adapt to match that.

 

[Peter0124]

I think Saturday is the new peak

 

[InOban]

It is . Bill Reeve of Transport Scotland said so at a recent meeting.

 

[takno]

Covid has hit for longer and harder than people thought it would so it's changed journey patterns for a lot of people. The morning peak especially has vastly changed on the bus and train from my experience. Trains just like the bus will need to adapt to match that.

Covid is an irrelevance to most of my staff wanting to come to Edinburgh from Glasgow. The awful train service most certainly isn't though. At this rate, by the time ScotRail feel like running a service again we'll have had to make alternative arrangements

 

[lachlan]

Covid has hit for longer and harder than people thought it would so it's changed journey patterns for a lot of people. The morning peak especially has vastly changed on the bus and train from my experience. Trains just like the bus will need to adapt to match that.

Apart from losing some peak commuter services, no the railway doesn’t need to adapt. The government needs to get serious about driving modal shift to rail and we can’t do that with reduced frequencies (like between Glasgow and Edinburgh)

I don’t believe the cut morning services are due to changing travel habits, I was under the impression they were cut due to driver shortages.

 

[Ray Mason]

Problem with this is literally every Tom, Dick or Harry that works in the Scottish public sector will now expect the same, indeed even Scotrail staff who aren't drivers.

This may be a solution to one problem but will open the floodgates to many, many more.

This ain't over at all.

 

[PaulMc7]

Apart from losing some peak commuter services, no the railway doesn’t need to adapt. The government needs to get serious about driving modal shift to rail and we can’t do that with reduced frequencies (like between Glasgow and Edinburgh)

I don’t believe the cut morning services are due to changing travel habits, I was under the impression they were cut due to driver shortages.

Ofcourse the railway needs to adapt as does everything else. I was meaning more the use of trains in the morning peak. The line via Partick has a very similar number of trains compared to pre-covid especially via Yoker and the difference is night and day now. A Saturday defintely seems to be the busiest day and trains will need to adapt to that.

If you want more trains when there's more drivers available then people will need to use what is there more to show them that the demand is there.

 

[Deltic1961]

Personally I feel keeping masks 3 months longer than England and the alcohol ban will be having an impact.

 

[PaulMc7]

Personally I feel keeping masks 3 months longer than England and the alcohol ban will be having an impact.

The least enforced alcohol ban ever to be fair. My train from Hamilton Central back into Glasgow had no conductor in sight and easily about 50-60 people drinking alcohol on it.

The sad reality to me is that it says a lot about Scotland's culture towards alcohol that people feel they need alcohol on a train. Keep that for pubs, restaurants etc not public transport.

 

[Deltic1961]

But it puts people off because even if not enforced its just another restriction on the way people live their lives... rightly or wrongly.

And of course BTP are there for any troublemakers should an issue occur.

Seems its easier to ban everyone than deal with isolated incidents.

 

[PaulMc7]

But it puts people off because even if not enforced its just another restriction on the way people live their lives... rightly orcwrongly.

And of course BTP are there for any troublemakers

BTP are the most non-existent people on earth to be honest. I seen 3 of them during COP26 but I've never seen any others ever. You'd get more people on a train with a properly enforced alcohol ban because people would be more likely to think that there won't be any troublemakers.

The main convenience cars have over public transport is the dealing with other people and as long as that is the case the train won't get back to close to pre-covid.

 

[hexagon789]

But it puts people off because even if not enforced its just another restriction on the way people live their lives... rightly or wrongly.

And of course BTP are there for any troublemakers should an issue occur.

Seems its easier to ban everyone than deal with isolated incidents.

There are an ever falling number of BTP officers in Scotland, I believe at the last report (2021) it had fallen below 200 officers (it was 233 in 2019). Its likely even less now.

In other words, they don't have the resources to make much of an appearance.

 

[Peter0124]

Perhaps Police Scotland could help out?

 

[ld0595]

But it puts people off because even if not enforced its just another restriction on the way people live their lives... rightly or wrongly.

And of course BTP are there for any troublemakers should an issue occur.

Seems its easier to ban everyone than deal with isolated incidents.

I doubt the alcohol ban is having that much of an impact. Most journeys in Scotland will generally be less than an hour so if folk can't survive for an hour long journey without a beer or wine then perhaps they need to consult their GP. In my experience, conductors turn a blind eye to it anyway.

People will take the train based on price and convenience and Scotrail aren't offering any of that. The biggest issue is the complete lack of services in the evenings. I took the train into Central from Cathcart on Friday at half 5ish. The 3 car 318 was surprisingly quiet for a Friday night, presumably because there were no return journeys between 7.30 and 11.30pm. On Sundays we're now at a pathetic 1 train per hour.

Likewise for the Edinburgh express. Ended up stuck in Edinburgh for much longer than expected a few weeks ago because there was nothing between 8.15pm and 10.15pm. Even on the outbound in the morning, the 8 car 385 was standing room only from Falkirk because the frequency has been cut so much.

Not many people are going to pay a premium for a less comfortable and less convenient trip.

 

[takno]

Likewise for the Edinburgh express. Ended up stuck in Edinburgh for much longer than expected a few weeks ago because there was nothing between 8.15pm and 10.15pm. Even on the outbound in the morning, the 8 car 385 was standing room only from Falkirk because the frequency has been cut so much.

This is the main issue. You can have a meeting overrun by a few minutes and end up an hour late home. If you want to stay out for a drink you pretty much need to be on the 8.15, which you may not get a seat on, because the 10.15 is too late for Glasgow local services, feels like it might not run anyway, and could end up impossible to board at Haymarket. The festival is going to make this situation completely untenable

 

[ld0595]

The festival is going to make this situation completely untenable

Completely agree. Add in further driver shortages due to covid absences (which seems to be an issue today) and it doesn't make for good prospects during the festival.

I could see people getting left behind in Edinburgh because there simply won't be any room to board after even just one cancellation.

 

[Scotrail314209]

I have noticed since the temporary timetable started, that the 900 has been consistently more busier, and I can see why. It's reliable, all the buses run, and it's every 15 minutes. Perfect imo.

 

[Peter0124]

I have noticed since the temporary timetable started, that the 900 has been consistently more busier, and I can see why. It's reliable, all the buses run, and it's every 15 minutes. Perfect imo.

Plus its now free for anyone under 22, and of course the elderly/disabled. So is a good alternative to the £10 ScotRail

 

[lachlan]

Plus its now free for anyone under 22, and of course the elderly/disabled. So is a good alternative to the £10 ScotRail

This is a good example of why rail should have been included in the free travel for under 22s. We are paying a private company to carry people and discouraging them from taking the state-owned train that will still run regardless.

 

[scotraildriver]

This is a good example of why rail should have been included in the free travel for under 22s. We are paying a private company to carry people and discouraging them from taking the state-owned train that will still run regardless.

The buses around Glasgow have become an absolute nightmare at night and during school holidays since the free travel was introduced. Gangs of kids travelling all over the city causing all sorts of trouble, effectively making buses no go areas for decent people. We have enough youth anti-social behaviour on trains without encouraging it with free travel. (Not that any of them pay just now anyway)

 

[GordonT]

I wonder if ScotRail will unveil an amended version of their temporary Sunday timetable given the number of cancellations which took place yesterday to their temporary timetable whose creation was intended to provide passengers with the reliability and certainty lacking in the previous timetable.

 

[GLC]

My journey tomorrow on the West Highland Line has been hugely curtailed with 15 hours notice

https://twitter.com/ScotRail/status/1545477510007296001

⚠️ Due to driver shortages, we've had to cancel or amend some services on the West Highland Line this weekend.

We've been unable to secure replacement transport for all services due to availability. Our advice is to consider making other arrangements if your journey is affected.

It is enormously frustrating that even with the emergency timetable, due to these cancellations, there is as far as I can work out, one single train from Glasgow to Fort William tomorrow.

 

[59CosG95]

My journey tomorrow on the West Highland Line has been hugely curtailed with 15 hours notice

https://twitter.com/ScotRail/status/1545477510007296001

It is enormously frustrating that even with the emergency timetable, due to these cancellations, there is as far as I can work out, one single train from Glasgow to Fort William tomorrow.

I'm supposed to be on the 11.40 from Fort William to Glasgow, but now that that's terminating at Crianlarich, it looks like I'll be stuck on Citylink...