10 TRANSPORT Rail figures are going down the wrong track
Stations usage falls
Passengers are giving up on the railway as figures show East Kilbride’s train stations saw a huge decrease in the number of people using services.
Damning statistics released by the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) operations committee show the number of journeys to and from East Kilbride has dropped by 11.4 per cent; it’s a 12.2 per cent fall to and from Hairmyres and a 14 per cent decline to and from Thorntonhall, between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
The number of ‘entries and exits,’ as passenger journeys are labelled in the report, show there has been a staggering decrease of over 200,000 using ScotRail services.
The committee state within the report that there was a “noticeable decline in and around East Kilbride.”
They note this may be down to “the current attractiveness of car travel” and “wider societal trends.”
East Kilbride SNP MSP Linda Fabiani has called the figures “disappointing”.
“We all know that there are serious issues about the EK/ Glasgow train service,” she said. “In the longer term we need electrification of this line and in the shorter term more carriages and better reliability.”
Conservative MSP for Central Scotland Graham Simpson called SPT’s reasons for the falling figures “meaningless tripe”.
He added: “The reason people are giving train travel from East Kilbride a wide berth is because the service is poor and they can’t get parked.”
Central Scotland’s Labour MSP Monica Lennon admitted the figures were a concern and said: “It’s obvious from these figures that the level of service continues to fall short of what passengers expect.”
A ScotRail Alliance spokesman said: “We want to encourage as many people as possible to travel by train.” Station 2015-16 East Kilbride 1,136,980 Hairmyres 719,260 Thorntonhall 19,094 2016-17 1,020,364 640,866 16,748 Difference -11.43% -12.23% -14.01%