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Glasgow - Inverness services

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Unstoppable

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Hi all, I've noticed for a while the Glasgow - Inverness services are getting slower and slower each time a timetable is released. The 07:00 Glasgow - Inverness now calls at Lenzie and Croy! Day time services include stops at Bridge of Allan as well as most stops on the Highland Mainline which used to see several expresses a day. The Aberdeen services seem unaffected and mainly run non stop to Stirling then Perth. Is there a reason behind why a 180 mile route stops at local shacks?
 
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hexagon789

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Hi all, I've noticed for a while the Glasgow - Inverness services are getting slower and slower each time a timetable is released. The 07:00 Glasgow - Inverness now calls at Lenzie and Croy! Day time services include stops at Bridge of Allan as well as most stops on the Highland Mainline which used to see several expresses a day. The Aberdeen services seem unaffected and mainly run non stop to Stirling then Perth. Is there a reason behind why a 180 mile route stops at local shacks?
It will be changed under the new timetable, Stirling only between Edinburgh or Glasgow and Perth.

The Bridge of Allan calls seem to have been a feature in Glasgow-Inverness services for as long as I can remember but go back to the 2000s and they aren't there.

I think the Edinburgh semi-fasts introduced with the TurboStar timetable, seemed to gradually obtain more stops at the smaller stations, to the that you have the current arrangement.

I assume they were put in in the 2009 changes as aquick way of providing more calls at BoA.

The Bridge of Allan, Dunblane and Gleneagles calls are to be withdrawn, the same with the few Glasgow-Aberdeen workings with Dunblane/Gleneagles calls.

Nevertheless, its still much much better than the Highland Main Line service of 40 years ago, it can't be denied its not perfect but it could be worse in my opinion - a lot worse.
 

InOban

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Remember that arrivals and departures at both Glasgow and Edinburgh are fixed within their clockface timetables, but that North of Perth trains have to meet at passing loops (or between Blair Atholl and Dalwhinnie ). There's no point in making the train faster to Perth if it's simply going to sit in a loop waiting for a southbound service.
 

hexagon789

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Remember that arrivals and departures at both Glasgow and Edinburgh are fixed within their clockface timetables, but that North of Perth trains have to meet at passing loops (or between Blair Atholl and Dalwhinnie ). There's no point in making the train faster to Perth if it's simply going to sit in a loop waiting for a southbound service.
They aren't clockface really, if anything the departure minutes are a mess on the I7C routes.

They haven't been properly clockface for a few years now off Glasgow & Edinburgh and even longer at Inverness; and they were once clockface from both ends AND at Perth (see Tartan Taktfahrplan) rather the current mash-up.
 

adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
Regarding the 07:xx Glasgow - Inverness, I am unsure if the additional calls at Lenzie and Croy were to cover for a withdrawn Glasgow - Stirling/Alloa train during the pandemic or not. Between Larbert and Dunblane, the Glasgow - Inverness is behind the Edinburgh - Dunblane.

In 1998 to round about 2003/04, the Glasgow - Aberdeen (which ran every 2 hours) used to call at Lenzie and Larbert between Glasgow and Stirling on Sundays Only, as the Glasgow - Stirling/Dunblane local did not run. There was initially "No Sunday Service" at Bishopbriggs or Croy, but in recent years post Turbostar, the Edinburgh trains called at Croy on Sundays, and the Glasgow - Stirling/Alloa started to run on Sundays which meant Bishopbriggs had a Sunday service, with the Lenzie and Larbert calls in the Sunday Aberdeen trains being removed.

For a good number of years until the second half of the 1990s, the Edinburgh - Glasgow via Falkirk was switched to run via Grahamston instead of High on Sundays. This provided connections into a Grahamston - Dunblane shuttle. The Edinburgh - Glasgow was revised to run via High on Sundays as per Monday - Saturday, with the ex Dunblane extending to Edinburgh.

The Inverness trains have remained broadly similar throughout, mainly due to the various single track sections meaning that the timings or frequency cannot be radically altered unless there is a double digit layover at each of the passing loops.
 

47421

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The infrastructure work at Pitlochry and Aviemore to accommodate more/faster services has now been completed, but the proposed May 2019 timetable per attached seems to have been forgotten now
 

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hexagon789

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The infrastructure work at Pitlochry and Aviemore to accommodate more/faster services has now been completed, but the proposed May 2019 timetable per attached seems to have been forgotten now
I think sidelined is the word, for at least the foreseeable.
 

Unstoppable

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The service from both Glasgow and Edinburgh is very unattractive with all the calling points. In an ideal world I think Stirling, Perth, Pitlochry, Kingussie, Aviemore and Inverness would be acceptable given the long distance travelled. Of course this is subject to paths being available around single line working. The coach services are definitely superior in this perspective. Stopping twice between the central belt and Inverness and taking around the 3 hour 30 mark
 

hexagon789

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Stopping twice between the central belt and
Only about half of them, but I take your point.

When the coaches tried to take a march on BR back in the early 80s with a faster service and cheap fares, BR fought back. This time it looks as though the railway is at least partly giving up.
 
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Part of the problem is that there is nothing else to serve the smaller stations further north. But I agree, a clockface hourly service would be a big improvement. It reminds me a lot of the Cotswold line when more of it was single (granted, this has more long distance traffic) and an hourly clockface timetable has worked wonders there (incidentally, these are also the only two places of single track, 100 mph line in the UK).
 

hexagon789

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Part of the problem is that there is nothing else to serve the smaller stations further north.
Which is I would say as significant an issue as the whole single track section pathing is.


incidentally, these are also the only two places of single track, 100 mph line in the UK
I thought there were 3? Two on the Cotswolds and one ~3-mile stretch north from Kingussie.
 

Stopper

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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 up by whatever Dundee/Arbroath semi-fast they have been proposing for years.
 
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Hi all, I've noticed for a while the Glasgow - Inverness services are getting slower and slower each time a timetable is released. The 07:00 Glasgow - Inverness now calls at Lenzie and Croy! Day time services include stops at Bridge of Allan as well as most stops on the Highland Mainline which used to see several expresses a day. The Aberdeen services seem unaffected and mainly run non stop to Stirling then Perth. Is there a reason behind why a 180 mile route stops at local shacks?
Worth noting that from the December timetable change this will be retimed to the 06:55 Glasgow to Inverness with the Lenzie and Croy stops being removed
 

adrock1976

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What's it called? It's called Cumbernauld
Worth noting that from the December timetable change this will be retimed to the 06:55 Glasgow to Inverness with the Lenzie and Croy stops being removed

I have noticed that this train has a ten minute layover at Perth, but there appears to be no connecting train from Edinburgh via Fife stations at all.

Also, this train runs ahead of the Edinburgh - Dunblane, meaning that passengers from Linlithgow, Polmont, Falkirk Grahamston, and Larbert cannot have a same platform connection at Stirling (although passengers from Larbert can use the Glasgow Queen Street - Alloa and change at Stirling, albeit not same platform).

Furthermore, this train used to depart Glasgow QS at 07:10, calling Stirling etc and departed Perth at broadly the same time today.
 

route101

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Earlier departure from Queen St means less scope for connections from other services into Central.
 

Unstoppable

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Worth noting that from the December timetable change this will be retimed to the 06:55 Glasgow to Inverness with the Lenzie and Croy stops being removed
This service used to leave at 07:10. Journey time extension of 15 mins as the arrival time is the same. Not very attractive when the car beats it
 
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I have noticed that this train has a ten minute layover at Perth, but there appears to be no connecting train from Edinburgh via Fife stations at all.

Also, this train runs ahead of the Edinburgh - Dunblane, meaning that passengers from Linlithgow, Polmont, Falkirk Grahamston, and Larbert cannot have a same platform connection at Stirling (although passengers from Larbert can use the Glasgow Queen Street - Alloa and change at Stirling, albeit not same platform).

Furthermore, this train used to depart Glasgow QS at 07:10, calling Stirling etc and departed Perth at broadly the same time today.
There is a connecting fife semi-fast for 1H05, 06:29 Edinburgh to Dundee via Perth (most likely routed via Perth for this exact reason)
 
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