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The SCOTRAIL GRANT AGREEMENT between The Scottish Ministers and Scottish Rail Holdings and ScotRail Trains Ltd. at June 2022 has the following requirement :
This specific agreement on rolling stock daily availability mirrors a lot of the underwhelming targets placed upon the operator across a range of areas by the Scottish Government via both SRH & TS. This coupled with the weak management of it by SRH + TS ensures that even these unchallenging targets do not attract any meaningful "down side" if they are not met by Scotrail. Given the regular reports of reduced formations & overcrowding across Strathclyde, it is obvious that the lack of investment, elderly fleets and unenthusiastic Scotrail engineering teams are failing regularly to get EMUs out each day in the numbers required.
Unfortunately it would seem that even with the "improved" December 2024 timetable not being fully restored to pre-Covid levels there will still not be enough EMUs to fully operate and maintain seating capacity on all EK services from December 2025 when the wires "go live". With the never ending delay to procurement for a new fleet, it would seem this will be an issue until 2029/30, at least.
The folly of TS to approve spending of over £100M, plus the future annual maintenance costs, to electrify the 6 mile EK branch rather than re-investing that in a new battery EMU fleet or conversion of a number of existing EMUs [C380 or C385s] is another in a long list of TS rail decisions which are blinkered on how to efficiently and quickly decarbonise Scotland's railway.
In addition, if TS & Scotrail had looked to look at options to backfill with off lease EMU fleets [such as C321s or C350/2s] it could have allowed the removal of most of the C156 fleet and some of the c.40 year old C318s, whilst minimising disruption on the East Kilbride branch in 2025, avoiding the loss of revenue during the 5 months of closure and reducing the major impacts on passengers.
East Kilbride/Barrhead electrification updates
Found this on planning portal. Mentions 8 car EMUS 4X hourly freq. Double tracked https://publicaccess.glasgow.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=map&keyVal=QBCECBEX0WY00

The SCOTRAIL GRANT AGREEMENT between The Scottish Ministers and Scottish Rail Holdings and ScotRail Trains Ltd. at June 2022 has the following requirement :
https://railholdings.scot/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ScotRailGrantAgreement-24June2022_Published.pdf
APPENDIX 1 TO SCHEDULE 1.1 / The Train Fleet
5. Fleet Availability Requirement
Fleet class Total Fleet
[DMUs = 146 units] +
[EMUs = 203 units]Allocated for
Passenger ServiceC153 5 3 C156 / 2-car 42 39 C158 / 2-car 40 35 C170 / 3-car 34 29 HST / 4-car 8 7 HST / 5-car 17 11 C318 / C320 55 44 [plus 6 pay as you go] C334 40 36 C380 / 3-car 22 20 C380 / 4-car 16 15 C385 / 3-car 46 42 C385 / 4-car 24 21 TOTAL 349 trains 306 trains
This specific agreement on rolling stock daily availability mirrors a lot of the underwhelming targets placed upon the operator across a range of areas by the Scottish Government via both SRH & TS. This coupled with the weak management of it by SRH + TS ensures that even these unchallenging targets do not attract any meaningful "down side" if they are not met by Scotrail. Given the regular reports of reduced formations & overcrowding across Strathclyde, it is obvious that the lack of investment, elderly fleets and unenthusiastic Scotrail engineering teams are failing regularly to get EMUs out each day in the numbers required.
Unfortunately it would seem that even with the "improved" December 2024 timetable not being fully restored to pre-Covid levels there will still not be enough EMUs to fully operate and maintain seating capacity on all EK services from December 2025 when the wires "go live". With the never ending delay to procurement for a new fleet, it would seem this will be an issue until 2029/30, at least.
The folly of TS to approve spending of over £100M, plus the future annual maintenance costs, to electrify the 6 mile EK branch rather than re-investing that in a new battery EMU fleet or conversion of a number of existing EMUs [C380 or C385s] is another in a long list of TS rail decisions which are blinkered on how to efficiently and quickly decarbonise Scotland's railway.
In addition, if TS & Scotrail had looked to look at options to backfill with off lease EMU fleets [such as C321s or C350/2s] it could have allowed the removal of most of the C156 fleet and some of the c.40 year old C318s, whilst minimising disruption on the East Kilbride branch in 2025, avoiding the loss of revenue during the 5 months of closure and reducing the major impacts on passengers.
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