ScotRail targets extra trains and electrics to Stirling
Electric trains will come to Stirling, Dunblane and Alloa from December, promises ScotRail (SR) as it promotes its next round of timetable changes, with journeys to Stirling from Edinburgh and Glasgow cut by five minutes.
Hitachi Class 385s will handle the Glasgow services, while Class 365s will work Edinburgh-Dunblane services. These ‘365s’ were drafted in to Scotland at short notice earlier this year, to cover for late deliveries of ‘385s’ from Hitachi and to allow ScotRail to switch EdinburghGlasgow Queen Street services to electric operation.
From December, all these trains will be operated by ‘385s’, allowing journey times to be cut from an average of 51 to 47 minutes.
ScotRail spokesman John Beaton assured RAIL that the services would start on time. He said that ScotRail was confident Network Rail would complete wiring work in time, and that it was confident it would have crews trained, despite a rest day working ban by guards belonging to the RMT union set to start on October 10. “Everyone is working towards the end goal,” he said.
Network Rail is closing the line between Larbert and Dunblane over October 14-22. Programme Manager Paul Reilly said: “With new electric trains being introduced in December, the [electrification] project is reaching a crucial stage and our engineers will be working around-the-clock to finish these works on October 22, when the line will reopen for morning services.”
In addition, ScotRail plans to start a half-hourly service between Edinburgh and Glasgow using Class 385s running via Falkirk Grahamston and Cumbernauld.
It also plans more EdinburghArbroath trains to give an almost hourly service for Broughty Ferry, Monifieth and Carnoustie. And there will be new hourly Aberdeen-Montrose trains to give an hourly service for Laurencekirk, Stonehaven and Portlethen.
ScotRail also plans nine extra services between Inverness and Elgin, to give an almost hourly service for Nairn, Forres and Elgin. It claims the train’s 40-minute journey time between Elgin and Inverness will be much faster than by car.
High Speed Trains should start working between Aberdeen and the Central Belt, although ScotRail Alliance Managing Director Alex Hynes admitted to The Scotsman newspaper in late September that he may have to use unrefurbished trains because the company overhauling the HSTs (Wabtec) is running late. So far, Wabtec has delivered one of the sets that ScotRail needs.
The changes increase ScotRail’s capacity. It says it will increase seats by 4,000 between Edinburgh and Dunblane, by 3,500 between Glasgow and Stirling, and by over 7,000 between Falkirk Grahamston and Edinburgh. North Berwick will have a daily increase of 1,500 seats.
Beaton said that by December SR expects to have two refurbished and ten ‘classic’ unrefurbished sets. Its new timetable needs ten sets and two spares.