Should the Cathcart Circle and associated lines be converted to trams/light rail?

[adrock1976]

I think to be able to have a fast service, you would really need at least 3tph Edinburgh to Holytown, with the other Glasgow and a Motherwell/Hamilton service doing all the Edinburgh suburban stops to give them 2tph. You could put Breich and Addiewell on the Motherwell one, but Hartwood might be a harder sell seeing as most traffic will be Glasgow-bound.

Even better would be 4tph, with 2tph Edinburgh to Glasgow semi-fast and 2tph Edinburgh to Livingston South stopping, with 1tph running through to Motherwell or Hamilton.

How about Edinburgh - West Calder all stations every 30 minutes, then 1tph continuing to Glasgow via Bellshill (as per present service calling all or most stations), with the other train every 2 hours to Glasgow via Whifflet, omitting Addiewell, Breich, and Hartwood, with this train in the opposite hour via Motherwell and Hamilton (omitting Addiewell, Breich, and Hartwood)?

I can remember there being "No Sunday Service" on Glasgow - Edinburgh via Shotts (except Glasgow - Shotts via Whifflet every 60 minutes on Sundays in December). Initially, Edinburgh - Fauldhouse (first/last station in Lothian Region) was introduced running every 2 hours. During the intervening years since then, there was a Glasgow - Shotts via Bellshill service introduced running every 2 hours, then were joined up to run straight through end to end.

 

[drb61]

How about Edinburgh - West Calder all stations every 30 minutes, then 1tph continuing to Glasgow via Bellshill (as per present service calling all or most stations), with the other train every 2 hours to Glasgow via Whifflet, omitting Addiewell, Breich, and Hartwood, with this train in the opposite hour via Motherwell and Hamilton (omitting Addiewell, Breich, and Hartwood)?

I can remember there being "No Sunday Service" on Glasgow - Edinburgh via Shotts (except Glasgow - Shotts via Whifflet every 60 minutes on Sundays in December). Initially, Edinburgh - Fauldhouse (first/last station in Lothian Region) was introduced running every 2 hours. During the intervening years since then, there was a Glasgow - Shotts via Bellshill service introduced running every 2 hours, then were joined up to run straight through end to end.

Dovetailing Shotts line service with Argyle Line services via Hamilton and / or Whifflet seems like a reasonable idea - after all Bathgate services run through to Helensburgh, so there's a precedent for extending suburban services beyond the SPT area. Running slower services via Whifflet or Hamilton would also facilitate running 'overtaking' faster services via Bellshill to supplement the stoppers. However beyond Shotts the services would need to be driver and conductor operated and would have to be operated by newer units with in cab monitors. Maybe something to think about once the 318s / 320s are replaced?

 

[adrock1976]

Being as the last few posts have delved slightly sideways into Lothian Region, I have started a new thread for the Shotts line at https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/suggested-timetable-for-edinburgh-glasgow-via-shotts.247454/

 

[numtot12345]

Scotrail have posted this video:

May timetable to feature some additional Cathcart Circle services during the day (not sure what times) then subject to driver training they will put on an hourly service.

Two things:
1) this suggests they aren't running Cathcart Cirlce services during the day due to driver shortage/experience? I had thought it was because scotrail didn't think there were enough passengers?
2) I wonder at what gap in the hour the service will be put (both pre and post december)

 

[ld0595]

Here's the times. Only a few extra before lunch so it doesn't really make much of a difference at the moment.

- 07:36 via Mt Florida,
- 08:13 via Shawlands,
- 08:19 via Mt Florida,
- 08:52 via Mt Florida *(new),
- 09:16 via Shawlands *(new),
- 09:51 via Mt Florida *(new),
- 10:51 via Mt Florida*(new),
- 11:15 via Shawlands *(new),
- 16:15 via Shawlands,
- 17:09 via Shawlands,
- 17:24 via Shawlands

It's still very frustrating that Cathcart still only gets 1tph in the evenings in this timetable change. I've been put off going out for dinner/drinks in town because of the likelihood of having to hang round for an hour afterwards.

I believe Scotrail did cite driver shortages as the reason why the Cathcart Circle hadn't been reinstated although presumably low passenger numbers meant they prioritised getting drivers trained on busier routes.

Out of interest was it 1tph round the circle in each direction before covid or 2? And did they run into the evenings as well? As I intimated above, having a more frequent service makes the train far more appealing.

 

[Falcon1200]

Out of interest was it 1tph round the circle in each direction before covid or 2?

Pre-Covid it was one Outer and one Inner Circle each hour, which combined with the Newton and Neilston services provided 2tph via Shawlands and 4tph via Mount Florida. And IIRC they did run in the evenings.