Scotrail - Post Covid Consultation - Service Reductions

[cf111]

Hmm, will take some time to digest this fully before jumping in two-footed even though on first glance it doesn't look particularly good. One thing I do like the sound of is Inverness-Edinburgh services going via Stirling as if you are travelling to Glasgow then changing at Stirling provides a less painful and quicker experience than changing at Perth, where one is often crammed on to a packed 170 which has come down from Aberdeen. This is a pre-lockdown experience to be fair.

 

[mcmad]

<Snip>

Hopefully the Scottish Government will step in and reverse some or all of these cuts.... we will have to see.

Given that the Scottish government is running Scotrail through TS almost completely, I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

[Scotrail314209]

No No No No No.

Gourock staying at 2tph off-peak permanently? Bad decision since the fast service takes 40 minutes, while the all stops takes about 50. Not great at all, especially given how populated Inverclyde is.

1tph on the Cumbernauld route... makes Robroyston a waste in a sense.

Reading through the changes, it's shameful. Absolutely shameful.

I think with reduced services (particularly around Glasgow and Edinburgh), it'll make more room for the buses to take an easy win.

Under this proposal can we also assume that the additional Friday night services to Edinburgh, Kilmarnock, East Kilbride, Neilston and Cathcart Circle won't be returning? (The ones that leave just after midnight and are normally well loaded.)

 

[scotrail158713]

From Dunfermline etc, but at the expense of Kirkcaldy etc !

Without doubt these changes will leave the network worse-off. I know from personal experience an hourly service on the Borders line isn't enough. I was just pointing out the way that the facts could be twisted to make it sound far more positive than it really is.

 

[Newtraveller58]

No No No No No.

Gourock staying at 2tph off-peak permanently? Bad decision since the fast service takes 40 minutes, while the all stops takes about 50. Not great at all, especially given how populated Inverclyde is.

1tph on the Cumbernauld route... makes Robroyston a waste in a sense.

Reading through the changes, it's shameful. Absolutely shameful.

I think with reduced services (particularly around Glasgow and Edinburgh), it'll make more room for the buses to take an easy win.

Under this proposal can we also assume that the additional Friday night services to Edinburgh, Kilmarnock, East Kilbride, Neilston and Cathcart Circle won't be returning? (The ones that leave just after midnight and are normally well loaded.)

While agreeing that the proposed changes are very negative and depressing and a win for Stagecoach and First group buses, as far as I can see, Cumbernauld will still get 2 trains per hour, 1 terminating at Cumbernauld and 1 at Falkirk Grahamston, giving Robroyston its 2 trains per hour.

 

[Chris Hamilton]

So, ScotRail are proposing a wholesale recasting of the timetable at the same time as they have no idea whatsoever about future journey patterns or usage requirements. They are proposing to maintain (currently) unused peak services, while slashing frequencies of off-peak and evening services, even though most predictions are for almost complete recovery in leisure travel with a decrease in commuting.

My focus is mostly on Lanarkshire, I work in Edinburgh and live in North Lanarkshire (but moving to South Lanarkshire soon), but my antisocial work hours already make public transport unviable. However, my wife is a regular commuter to Glasgow (yes, she returned voluntarily to her office 3 weeks ago), and I try to use the train for as many journeys as possible (even Rail-Sailing to Belfast this weekend).

I do agree with truncating the Cumbernauld to Edinburgh services at Falkirk. The fact that Grahamston provides a same platform interchange means minimal disruption for most users. I'm not on board with reduction in Lanark services into the evening. These services can be very well utilised, and also provide the primary transport link for Carluke and Lanark to their main hospital and areas of employment. Evening bus services being atrocious in this area. The prospect of Carstairs returning to the bad old days of having just a couple of trains a day beggars belief, given the investment SPT and South Lanarkshire Council have made in P&R at this station. Trains towards Edinburgh are generally well loaded from Wishaw, Carluke and Carstairs, especially on Saturdays and during school holidays.

If anything, ScotRail should pivot towards a leisure focussed timetable across much of its network. End the Mon-Sat, Sun timetable, and create a specific Sat timetable. Remove many of the peak time limited stop services, run standard intervals from 7am to 9pm M-F and run a more intensive daytime and evening service at the weekends. Improve connectivity to leisure destinations at the weekend (Lanark to Ayr? Motherwell to North Berwick via Carstairs? East Kilbride to Stirling (via the City Union)?), and can we make sure that services run doubled up on Sundays. I understand that doubling the frequency is almost impossible due to antique Sunday rostering rules, but there is NO excuse for trains running as only 3 coaches. I've avoided Sunday trains from Lanark for years, as the 3 cars that usually turn up are always standing room only by Bellshill, and sometimes even Wishaw. This doesn't encourage train use.

£40m savings aren't something to be sniffed at, but they are a drop in the ocean compared to the overall running costs of the network, and a small price to pay in a "climate emergency". In the year Scotland is hosting COP and we are placing the Greens into power, our largest transport operator and the one that is essentially publicly run, is encouraging more people into cars.

The network needs innovation and fresh thinking, not retrenchment and managed decline.

 

[shotts56]

What a depressing contrast with big Phil Verster's 'revolution in rail' timetable ambitions. Until February 2020 the rail network in Scotland felt like it was on the up, now it's more like a return to the managed decline of the 1980s.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[deltic]

So, ScotRail are proposing a wholesale recasting of the timetable at the same time as they have no idea whatsoever about future journey patterns or usage requirements. They are proposing to maintain (currently) unused peak services, while slashing frequencies of off-peak and evening services, even though most predictions are for almost complete recovery in leisure travel with a decrease in commuting.

My focus is mostly on Lanarkshire, I work in Edinburgh and live in North Lanarkshire (but moving to South Lanarkshire soon), but my antisocial work hours already make public transport unviable. However, my wife is a regular commuter to Glasgow (yes, she returned voluntarily to her office 3 weeks ago), and I try to use the train for as many journeys as possible (even Rail-Sailing to Belfast this weekend).

I do agree with truncating the Cumbernauld to Edinburgh services at Falkirk. The fact that Grahamston provides a same platform interchange means minimal disruption for most users. I'm not on board with reduction in Lanark services into the evening. These services can be very well utilised, and also provide the primary transport link for Carluke and Lanark to their main hospital and areas of employment. Evening bus services being atrocious in this area. The prospect of Carstairs returning to the bad old days of having just a couple of trains a day beggars belief, given the investment SPT and South Lanarkshire Council have made in P&R at this station. Trains towards Edinburgh are generally well loaded from Wishaw, Carluke and Carstairs, especially on Saturdays and during school holidays.

If anything, ScotRail should pivot towards a leisure focussed timetable across much of its network. End the Mon-Sat, Sun timetable, and create a specific Sat timetable. Remove many of the peak time limited stop services, run standard intervals from 7am to 9pm M-F and run a more intensive daytime and evening service at the weekends. Improve connectivity to leisure destinations at the weekend (Lanark to Ayr? Motherwell to North Berwick via Carstairs? East Kilbride to Stirling (via the City Union)?), and can we make sure that services run doubled up on Sundays. I understand that doubling the frequency is almost impossible due to antique Sunday rostering rules, but there is NO excuse for trains running as only 3 coaches. I've avoided Sunday trains from Lanark for years, as the 3 cars that usually turn up are always standing room only by Bellshill, and sometimes even Wishaw. This doesn't encourage train use.

£40m savings aren't something to be sniffed at, but they are a drop in the ocean compared to the overall running costs of the network, and a small price to pay in a "climate emergency". In the year Scotland is hosting COP and we are placing the Greens into power, our largest transport operator and the one that is essentially publicly run, is encouraging more people into cars.

The network needs innovation and fresh thinking, not retrenchment and managed decline.

Agree entirely - my trips and observations suggest that you can remove the additional peak time services but restore all off-peak services as it is leisure trips that have come back strongly and that's where future growth is going to be. Cutting services to hourly in the evening is counter productive

 

[D6975]

With regards to Inter7City HST's on the West Highland Line, this keeps coming from rural / tourism ministers to various groups / business associations etc. It would be transformational in terms of the passenger experience, but what length of HSTs could pass in the loops. Where does a reduction in Scotland wide services leave the recast and increase of West Highland Line services that was supposedly in the pipeline?

Well, a 37 and 7 coaches used to be on the sleeper back in loco hauled days, so the loops are plenty long enough for a 2+5 HST. (approx 15m shorter)

 

[haggishunter]

One thing I do like the sound of is Inverness-Edinburgh services going via Stirling as if you are travelling to Glasgow then changing at Stirling provides a less painful and quicker experience than changing at Perth, where one is often crammed on to a packed 170 which has come down from Aberdeen. This is a pre-lockdown experience to be fair.

My last couple of rail trips to/from Glasgow have been on the Highland Chieftain to Stirling, then change to Glasgow getting on a 385 with plenty of space that started locally. With a pair of first class advances from LNER the stirling part was the same cost as an open off-peak return to Glasgow, a hugely preferable journey to the usual experience of changing at Perth if not on a direct train. There's also more frequent trains and better capacity on them from Stirling if there's any delays on the way south from Inverness.

The overall tone of this sounds negative. Having just spent somewhere around £1billion between EGIP and Inverness to Aberdeen lines to ramp up service capacity, to slash service capacity to save £40m is utterly crackers. Scottish Government has (had?) a target to reduce car travel by 20% by 2030, if you look at the rough modal share figures that would require something in the region of doubling the number of passengers ScotRail carries in a year.

However this is a consultation, the rail consultation pre the last franchise let also had some very negative stuff for the future in it that didn't happen.

 

[Horizon22]

Currently, the Scottish Greens are in negotiations with the SNP for some arrangement short of an alliance. If I were the leader of the Scottish Greens I would make full restoration of the pre-COVID timetable a condition. Can you image a green party supporting a Government that cuts public transport?

I don’t think any TOC anywhere in the country will be going back to a “full restoration of pre-COVID timetables”. There were lots of inefficient peak workings and ghost trains in the off-peak. 85-95% is probably a good point to be at - and will give a disproportionate improvement in performance at most places.

But yes it can be spun as “hundreds of trains axed” when you run more than 1000 a day.

Whether the loadings on those services were substantial (or will return to be) is a matter for each local TOC and route based on the data and for stakeholders/passengers to input on. These are consultations, not set in stone.

 

[kez19]

Having had a chance to look at the proposals in more detail, some things stand out:

Glasgow/Aberdeen
'Continue to operate one train per hour, calling at limited stations.'
This seems to be saying that Glasgow/Aberdeen is hourly now..... which it is not !

Cumbernauld/Falkirk/Edinburgh and Stirling/Dunblane
With the former not now running beyond Grahamston, the latter have their Polmont and Linlithgow stops restored; The pre-Covid service pattern, a benefit of electrification, did not last long !

Glasgow/Kilmarnock
Half the service calls all stations between Glasgow Central and Barrhead, so not exactly fast.

Glasgow South Suburban Routes
Evening services are decimated with many reduced to hourly, truly a return to the bad old days of the 1980s.

Hopefully the Scottish Government will step in and reverse some or all of these cuts.... we will have to see.

I honestly didn’t realise that from the Glasgow end to Aberdeen was 2 hourly (I thought it was stuck at hourly)!

I did notice on the National Rail app from Glasgow it has services terminate in Aberdeen or Dundee in the morning.

I’m sure for Glasgow if people want to go Megabus will welcome them on board (Scotrail have missed the boat on this and it’s an if and my own opinion if Megabus were to put on more quicker services between Aberdeen/Dundee to Glasgow than that’ll decimate Scotrail completely), surely they want people on trains not off them?

 

[duesselmartin]

I am not surprised by cuts. We will be in an economic desaster after covid. All those debts will have to be repaid. Rebuilding a solid economy will take time.

 

[Bald Rick]

Hopefully the Scottish Government will step in and reverse some or all of these cuts.... we will have to see.

There is zero chance these proposals have been made without th full approval of the Scottish Government.

 

[snookertam]

Well what do you expect when you spend the best part of a year telling prospective passengers to "go away" or put up aggressive signs advising that the railways are for "Essential Travel Only". We are now starting to pay the price of lockdowns.

This. In a nutshell, people have pretty much been forced into private transport and have no incentive to come back - indeed in some cases are scared out of coming back. Who benefits from that?

I always had a feeling that when services were reduced for a second time, publicly admitted by ScotRail that it was due to costs, that many of those services wouldn’t come back.

 

[Berliner]

Well what do you expect when you spend the best part of a year telling prospective passengers to "go away" or put up aggressive signs advising that the railways are for "Essential Travel Only". We are now starting to pay the price of lockdowns.

That, coupled with a seemingly open-ended "work from home" message doesn't help either.

 

[Unstoppable]

I honestly didn’t realise that from the Glasgow end to Aberdeen was 2 hourly (I thought it was stuck at hourly)!

I did notice on the National Rail app from Glasgow it has services terminate in Aberdeen or Dundee in the morning.

I’m sure for Glasgow if people want to go Megabus will welcome them on board (Scotrail have missed the boat on this and it’s an if and my own opinion if Megabus were to put on more quicker services between Aberdeen/Dundee to Glasgow than that’ll decimate Scotrail completely), surely they want people on trains not off them?

Glasgow - Aberdeen by coach direct is timed at 2 hours 50 but with a clear run can take 2 hours 32. The M9 service takes 1 hour to Perth, 1 hour 40 to Dundee and 3 hours 15 to Aberdeen. Albeit journey times are often shorter

 

[Voyager lad]

One of the major things I noticed (since I use Lenzie) was the cutting of local Glasgow - Stirling/Alloa services to hourly in the evening. They are currently half hourly with a couple of hour gaps but are always busy. I’m a regular user of the 2320 and 2350 from Queen street, and even in the last few weeks have struggled to get a seat especially on Saturdays. Cutting to hourly just seems madness, when it’s one of the busiest corridors to/from Glasgow - Bishopbriggs, Lenzie and Croy

 

[kez19]

Glasgow - Aberdeen by coach direct is timed at 2 hours 50 but with a clear run can take 2 hours 32. The M9 service takes 1 hour to Perth, 1 hour 40 to Dundee and 3 hours 15 to Aberdeen. Albeit journey times are often shorter

May as well add there is no trolley services on the Megabus either! If anything if I was going to do Glasgow or Edinburgh again in the future seems I’ll go Megabus than Scotrail!

Cynical for a minute, even with change of hands next year it seems like as if the Scottish Government isn’t improving Scotrail but it seems they have possibly scored an own goal for the likes of us in the North east not to bother with Scotrail but to get the Megabus instead (surely they should have seen this?), will it make any profit out of these changes or do we predict making more losses? (I’ll expect if it’s losses it will be spun and COVID will still be blamed)

 

[Southsider]

May as well add there is no trolley services on the Megabus either! If anything if I was going to do Glasgow or Edinburgh again in the future seems I’ll go Megabus than Scotrail!

Cynical for a minute, even with change of hands next year it seems like as if the Scottish Government isn’t improving Scotrail but it seems they have possibly scored an own goal for the likes of us in the North east not to bother with Scotrail but to get the Megabus instead (surely they should have seen this?), will it make any profit out of these changes or do we predict making more losses? (I’ll expect if it’s losses it will be spun and COVID will still be blamed)

COVID might get some of the blame but I’m sure Westminster will receive the lion’s share.

 

[Starmill]

May as well add there is no trolley services on the Megabus either! If anything if I was going to do Glasgow or Edinburgh again in the future seems I’ll go Megabus than Scotrail!

Cynical for a minute, even with change of hands next year it seems like as if the Scottish Government isn’t improving Scotrail but it seems they have possibly scored an own goal for the likes of us in the North east not to bother with Scotrail but to get the Megabus instead (surely they should have seen this?), will it make any profit out of these changes or do we predict making more losses? (I’ll expect if it’s losses it will be spun and COVID will still be blamed)

ScotRail makes a large loss for the government as it is. This is an attempt to mitigate those losses long term.

 

[kez19]

ScotRail makes a large loss for the government as it is. This is an attempt to mitigate those losses long term.

May as well just throw in the towel especially for my area if that’s the case (as currently the Sunday strikes affect here)

 

[Starmill]

May as well just throw in the towel especially for my area if that’s the case (as currently the Sunday strikes affect here)

I imagine this is a possibility long term yes.

 

[kez19]

I imagine this is a possibility long term yes.

If this is indeed long term what does it actually achieve? Reduced revenue/passengers? Not exactly first class railway for Scotland that’s for sure! (first class maybe a stretch)

In terms of the Sunday strikes what happens if there is no solution what are the unions and the Scottish Government going to do about it? As if this was to continue when the Scottish Government gets it handed over (and say in theory they don’t budge either), it’s not going to be a good look as it is with Scotrail as a brand and having Scottish Government in control.

 

[kylemore]

There is zero chance these proposals have been made without th full approval of the Scottish Government.

Exactly.

You have a "private" organisation that is under notice of "nationalisation" but the rail services are wholly (more or less) paid for by the state.

So who is actually in charge?

 

[snookertam]

So, ScotRail are proposing a wholesale recasting of the timetable at the same time as they have no idea whatsoever about future journey patterns or usage requirements. They are proposing to maintain (currently) unused peak services, while slashing frequencies of off-peak and evening services, even though most predictions are for almost complete recovery in leisure travel with a decrease in commuting.

My focus is mostly on Lanarkshire, I work in Edinburgh and live in North Lanarkshire (but moving to South Lanarkshire soon), but my antisocial work hours already make public transport unviable. However, my wife is a regular commuter to Glasgow (yes, she returned voluntarily to her office 3 weeks ago), and I try to use the train for as many journeys as possible (even Rail-Sailing to Belfast this weekend).

I do agree with truncating the Cumbernauld to Edinburgh services at Falkirk. The fact that Grahamston provides a same platform interchange means minimal disruption for most users. I'm not on board with reduction in Lanark services into the evening. These services can be very well utilised, and also provide the primary transport link for Carluke and Lanark to their main hospital and areas of employment. Evening bus services being atrocious in this area. The prospect of Carstairs returning to the bad old days of having just a couple of trains a day beggars belief, given the investment SPT and South Lanarkshire Council have made in P&R at this station. Trains towards Edinburgh are generally well loaded from Wishaw, Carluke and Carstairs, especially on Saturdays and during school holidays.

If anything, ScotRail should pivot towards a leisure focussed timetable across much of its network. End the Mon-Sat, Sun timetable, and create a specific Sat timetable. Remove many of the peak time limited stop services, run standard intervals from 7am to 9pm M-F and run a more intensive daytime and evening service at the weekends. Improve connectivity to leisure destinations at the weekend (Lanark to Ayr? Motherwell to North Berwick via Carstairs? East Kilbride to Stirling (via the City Union)?), and can we make sure that services run doubled up on Sundays. I understand that doubling the frequency is almost impossible due to antique Sunday rostering rules, but there is NO excuse for trains running as only 3 coaches. I've avoided Sunday trains from Lanark for years, as the 3 cars that usually turn up are always standing room only by Bellshill, and sometimes even Wishaw. This doesn't encourage train use.

£40m savings aren't something to be sniffed at, but they are a drop in the ocean compared to the overall running costs of the network, and a small price to pay in a "climate emergency". In the year Scotland is hosting COP and we are placing the Greens into power, our largest transport operator and the one that is essentially publicly run, is encouraging more people into cars.

The network needs innovation and fresh thinking, not retrenchment and managed decline.

Struggle to disagree with any of this, especially the opportunity to standardise timetables throughout the day, as was the case on the Edinburgh - Queen Street service.

Only slight note of caution I would have is that as we don’t quite know how numbers will respond when more offices reopen, maybe that question should remain open until we do. Either way, it is apparent that this is a lazy, blunt instrument attempt to simply reduce running costs, without considering how revenue could be increased to reduce or even remove the gap. Has any User research been carried out? Have they considered any service design principles? Have they thought about asking the travelling public what will bring them back, or have they just accepted that car is king.

There’s no doubt that a redesign of the timetable to suit changing needs is required, but as described above by @Highlandspring this is just managed decline. If you redesign the timetable to meet where most demand is, you avert the need for outright cuts and even provide a platform for further growth. When numbers inevitably slump because using the train is no longer convenient, this will be the basis for further cuts in the future.

One specific point I would refer to, the proposal for the Glasgow South electric services will leave an entirely inadequate service for the public and in particular the eastern half of the Cathcart Circle will be left with an hourly service during the day. Next to nobody in the city is going to waste their time on arranging part of their day to use such an infrequent service. There’s a complete lack of understanding in the railway about what motivates the public to use a particular mode of transport - that is convenience. If you make it a challenge for people to use the train they’ll just opt for their cars.

I would very much worry about the future of the rail service if this comes to fruition, or unless this type of thinking is challenged. We have seen pessimistic proposals stopped before - in the late 2000s Transport Scotland had a bizarre proposal to close any station within 1/4 of another one which completely misunderstands urban transport usage - but none of that got beyond the drawing board. I’d expect a fair few local authorities, Aberdeen City and Scottish Borders for example, will likely be up in arms at these proposals, so it remains to be seen for sort of pressure will come to bear to either avert these cuts, or what compromises we might see - for example maybe what we define as ‘peak’ times might be extended from what we currently understand it to be to finish later in the morning and begin earlier in the afternoon, by way of compensation.

 

[alangla]

This annoyed me (from https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-scotrail/fit-future)

Our analysis shows prior to the pandemic, on a number of routes across the country, significantly more seats were being provided than were required for the number of passengers travelling. For example, under five and a half million passenger journey miles were completed on a typical weekday, which was just 23 per cent of the available number of seats. In other words, seats were empty for 77 per cent of the distance that was travelled.

Returning to a pre-pandemic timetable would result in trains operating 26 million more vehicle miles each year for little customer benefit. As well as increased emissions, that would increase ScotRail costs to the taxpayer by £30million to £40million each year.

Nothing to do with them carting round long trains of fresh air off-peak for their own convenience?
It wasn't that long ago that Scotrail were crowing about how almost everything out of Queen Street Low Level towards Airdrie would be 6 cars, but apart from the peaks most of those journeys would probably be fine with 3, at least as far as Bathgate. I realise there's not a lot of stabling available during the day at Helensburgh and none at Balloch and trying to co-ordinate a service for both the Glasgow & Edinburgh rush hours is tricky, but Network Rail just spent a fortune adding extra stabling at Milngavie, which has had its off-peak service halved!

How about right-sizing the trains before slashing the timetable?

I'm assuming the key driver of this is actually cutting staff numbers (e.g. drivers to return units to depots between & post-peak & maintain the pre-Covid service levels) rather than the greenwash quoted about cutting wasted miles & emissions.

Also - thinking about the way that figure is presented - the nature of many services is that there's not a lot of end-to-end traffic. You can't have a train that's perfectly right-sized leaving Ayr, but not have any space for passengers boarding at Irvine, Troon etc. - there's always going to be wasted seat-mileage. Maybe on something like Glasgow to Aberdeen you might be able to "replace" passengers that leave the train at major stops like Perth & Dundee, but that won't be the case for things like Fife, Borders or anything in SPT land that gathers passengers towards a big city & offloads them on the way out.

 

[Hagbard Celine]

I had my first post lockdown trip on the Borders line a fortnight ago. Just like the old days of five years ago it was a two car 158, not even standing room by departure time (15:24) from Waverley. This was from platform 1 so no ticket barrier and it was too crammed for the guard to make an appearance to check or sell any tickets.

Do Scotrail have any idea of how many are actually using these services? WFH may have cut commuter demand, but this was not a commuter train.

 

[backontrack]

Compare Holyrood dualling the A9 (four lanes!!) while Scotrail slow down Edinburgh services down the single-track Highland Mainline by routing them via Stirling.

Green transition my arse.

No No No No No.

Gourock staying at 2tph off-peak permanently? Bad decision since the fast service takes 40 minutes, while the all stops takes about 50. Not great at all, especially given how populated Inverclyde is.

1tph on the Cumbernauld route... makes Robroyston a waste in a sense.

Reading through the changes, it's shameful. Absolutely shameful.

I think with reduced services (particularly around Glasgow and Edinburgh), it'll make more room for the buses to take an easy win.

Under this proposal can we also assume that the additional Friday night services to Edinburgh, Kilmarnock, East Kilbride, Neilston and Cathcart Circle won't be returning? (The ones that leave just after midnight and are normally well loaded.)

Robroyston will still have 2tph, but Edinburgh Gateway might as well be renamed 'Dunfermline Parkway' now...

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman....under-planned-post-pandemic-timetable-3353149

E-G to remain half-hourly off-peak and Edinburgh-Inverness to be routed via Stirling, among other changes.

I still can't get over how stupid some of this is. The optics of slashing rail services before COP26 is dreadful in itself, but also the routes they've concocted and the amount of shakeup is actually going to push people into cars. Graeme Dey doesn't have a clue.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman....under-planned-post-pandemic-timetable-3353149

E-G to remain half-hourly off-peak and Edinburgh-Inverness to be routed via Stirling, among other changes.

I still can't get over how stupid some of this is. The optics of slashing rail services before COP26 is dreadful in itself, but also the routes they've concocted and the amount of shakeup is actually going to push people into cars. Graeme Dey doesn't have a clue.

 

[freddiem]

It would appear to me that many of these changes do not encourage rail travel for the vast majority of people. I know personally from bitter experience that the trains in the pre-pandemic morning peak that came from Dundee and called at all Fife stations were always RAMMED, especially when 2 carriage 158s were the standard operator. It would seem that these services will become the norm which will inevitably push passengers onto buses and into cars. It also seems that Perth people will be "treated" to a grand tour of Fife everyday, calling at every lamppost along the way, which will cause people from Perth to jump back in their cars, and people from places like Dunfermline will see these services initially get busier, then decide it isn't for them and get the X55 into EDB. I honestly can't find a single benefit for anyone among any of this