On the 9;45 from Inverness to Edinburgh, supposed to be an HST, a 170, no seat reservations, train packed people standing at various points on the journey, luggage everywhere. Usual mess. Toilet problems on leaving Inverness. train was delayed by 20 mins by Aviemore due to hating for trains to cross, never picked up the time arrived in Edinburgh late. On LNER to London now, missed my original train but there were at least three HST refurbs sitting in sidings at either haymarket or Criagentinny. Three classics at Haymarket, two in Inverness. So I take it staffing issues were affecting Inverness workings not reliability.
Pretty poor anyway. Doesn't seem to be any better despite the promises that it would after the Aberdeen line reopened.