ScotRail’s ambitions.

Operator’s intent to improve services is clear and must be applauded, while in England the DfT continues to founder, argues PHILIP HAIGH

THOSE who do nothing make no mistakes. So the saying goes, and I was reminded of it while explaining to a journalist from The Scotsman newspaper the problems ScotRail had with its Inter7City preview run from Aberdeen to Edinburgh on October 10.

The journalist had alighted at Dundee after a decent sunny run along Scotland’s beautiful east coast. We left on time, but braked to a halt between Leuchars and Ladybank. I don’t think many guests on board noticed the lengthening halt until a posse of fitters strode purposely through the front coach to reach the power car.

An air pipe had broken, and it took a while to seal the leak sufficiently that we could carry on to reach Waverley half-an-hour late. Passengers walking from the train could doubtless hear hissing air as they passed the power car. ScotRail cancelled the return run to Aberdeen and sent the train to Haymarket depot for further repairs.

ScotRail’s senior managers were embarrassed by the failure, which wasn’t anything to do with the refurbishment they were showing off. What was more important was that ScotRail had taken the plunge by boosting the quality of trains linking Scotland’s seven cities.

Passengers have been riding diesel multiple units for decades, following British Rail’s introduction of Class 158s and National Express’s switch to Class 170s after privatisation. Today’s three-car Class 170s are crowded, and it was clear that the network needed longer trains.

Bringing in HSTs makes good use of a train widely regarded as British Rail’s greatest success. They’ve been running in frontline service since 1976, initially on Brunel’s billiard table from Paddington and then on the racing straights of the East Coast Main Line. They’ve also coped with Devon’s fearsome banks and the curves and gradients on the main line through Cornwall. They’re no strangers to Aberdeen and Inverness, as they provide London North Eastern Railway’s daytime links to London.

In time, ScotRail’s Aberdeen services might be seen as an Indian summer for HSTs. They’d be following a well-trodden path. When HSTs displaced Class 55 Deltics from top-link East Coast services, the Deltics found a few further years’ work to and from Aberdeen. Indeed, the final service working for the Deltics was the 1630 Aberdeen-York on December 31 1981, hauled by 55019 Royal Highland Fusilier.

With their introduction in 1961, Deltics had themselves relegated ‘Pacific’ steam locomotives - such as Gresley’s famed ‘A4’ class - to Aberdeen. In each case, services improved with the arrival of hand-me-down stock. The locomotives might not be new, but they were better than what went before.

ScotRail’s HSTs are not new and there was a flurry of fuss about their age before the preview run. ScotRail Alliance Managing Director Alex Hynes countered with his belief that passengers were not bothered about age provided the service they offered was reliable. I agree, but the air incident shows there’s more to good service than an internal refurbishment. Inter7City HSTs need to be reliable, and that means keeping on top of some of their 40-yearold parts.

Their internal refurbishment looks good. It includes some neat touches such as placing the power sockets upside down so that they can accommodate bulkier chargers. There’s some humour, too, such as the ‘Stay Out - Live Haggis Transport’ sign on the door of the catering store. Legroom appears generous, and there are bays of four seats around tables with good views from the window. First Class retains the seats from Great Western Railway’s acclaimed refurbishment a few years ago. I suspect that given the chance, Paddington’s passengers would have them back in an instant.

The downside is that it has taken Wabtec at Doncaster far longer than originally thought to refurbish ScotRail’s HST trailers. Wabtec’s work included fitting power doors and controlled emission toilets. This involves cutting into the trailers, which revealed more repair work than thought. No surprise really, but each will be slightly different - making production line techniques harder to implement.

Despite doing the work in Doncaster, Wabtec