Recent content by Stopper

Looks like Cupar will be a call on every ScotRail Edinburgh-Aberdeen service for a trial period. I always felt bad for Cupar, after the Aberdeen services were speeded up by introducing the semi-fast Dundee services, it only had an hourly service in comparison to Ladybank and Markinch (which...

Any concrete proposals on service pattern yet or is just speculation? Obviously we expect it to be 1tph via Dunfermline and 1tph via Kirkcaldy as extensions/diversions of the current Cowdenbeath/Glenrothes terminators. Will the Circle services ever return in place of being merged into the...

Much appreciated

I can only speak for the lines I travel on. Edinburgh-Glasgow main line and Edinburgh-Dunblane are certainly nothing like pre-Covid during peaks but I’d suggest that the off-peak numbers are similar.

I am assuming it’s an EMU thing. You rarely see double DMUs off-peak (in central Scotland at least) but EMUs seem to remain in their formations all day. I used to be jealous of the 6-car 334s that would rock up to Haymarket mostly empty off peak while my Glasgow or Dunblane train would show up...

It will happen eventually. Services are getting busier. Been on a lot of lunchtime services recently they’re fairly well loaded. Not pre-pandemic level during off-peak and certainly not the peaks but it’s improving. A lot depends on how they want to provide capacity. 8-car running isn’t needed...

Cupar always had a bit of a short straw as it couldn’t be served by Perth/Inverness services, like Inverkeithing, Kirkcaldy, Markinch and Ladybank. I don’t think Aberdeen services calling there is a bad thing.

That is a bizarre proposal to say the least. I think there would be some demand from Stirling and Motherwell, but not a lot. I don’t think you are going to generate a lot of demand from secondary stations in Falkirk, Coatbridge and Cumbernauld towards England. These services state they will be...

Looks like it, although not the old calling patterns. Linlithgow, Polmont and Falkirk High will be called at by all 4 services, with Croy only by 2. Giving Linlithgow and Polmont a 6tph service to Edinburgh at the weekend.

Unsure if this is the correct sub-forum, please move if not. This one is for those familiar with the ScotRail network. Pre-covid, or at least in the years preceding some time, I remember some odd diagrams with some unusual rolling stock. I believe there was a Queen Street - Lenzie operated by...

170+158 has been extremely common on several lines in Scotland for years. 170+156 was very rare, I saw it on Alloa services before but I highly doubt it features anywhere in Scotland these days.

Extending these to Stirling isn’t a bad idea in theory and would likely generate decent passenger numbers but I’m not sure you could feasibly (legally and practically) send Class 318s and 320s up beyond Greenhill on to a busy 2-track line containing express 385s, 170s and HSTs.

The main problem pre-electrification with Stirling-Edinburgh wasn’t really journey time anyway. It was capacity and reliability. You could barely name a worse service in Scotland than the Edinburgh-Dunblane service in peak times. Always shortformed, congested, unreliable, delayed, cancelled etc...

The Glasgow-Cumbernauld-Edinburgh services were almost deserted pre-covid so I can’t imagine in the current climate that they ever had more than a handful aboard.

Bridge of Allan and Dunblane calls are mainly due to the lack of Dunblane-Glasgow local services anymore. Hardly any Inverness train stops at anything between Stirling and Glasgow. Ideally all services to Inverness would only call at Stirling pre-Perth and the rest of the calls could be scooped...