Rail commuters slam timetable
Edinburgh service to take longer
Commuters hit out this week over changes to the Dunblane-StirlingEdinburgh rail service, claiming journeys will generally take longer.
The new timetable comes into effect on Sunday, December 9, and follows months of disruption on the route caused by line electrification work, with buses replacing trains on many journeys.
One irate traveller told the Observer the new timetable made a mockery of ScotRail’s promise that the upheaval would bring about a faster service.
The man, who uses the service from Dunblane, added: “Apart from a small handful of daytime trains that now take 54 minutes, instead of the current average of about one hour two minutes, most services are still over an hour meaning they are actually slower than the time in 1989 when Scotrail introduced the first ‘Sprinter’ trains when one hour was the journey time from Dunblane to Edinburgh.
“The evening peak time ‘fast’ service timetabled to leave Edinburgh at 5.18pm has a 13-minute wait at Stirling before continuing to Dunblane while they detach the front part of the train and send it to Alloa.
“This means the tea-time service which currently leaves Edinburgh at 5.27pm and takes 49 minutes, now leaves slightly earlier and takes one hour and 13 minutes.
“Around the same time, although a less popular service, from Dunblane to Edinburgh at 5.48pm has a journey time to Edinburgh of one hour eight minutes.
“Even worse, the 5.15pm from Dunblane to Edinburgh has a 14-minute wait at Stirling meaning it takes one hour and 19 minutes to Edinburgh.”
Another commuter said the new Dunblane-Edinburgh timetable fell short of what had been promised by Scotrail.
He said: “During the last two years travellers, residents and businesses have had to endure the disruption of regular line closures, replacement buses, limited rail services and major road closures due to the engineering works.
“We were promised this would be worth the inconvenience, as it would allow the delivery of a vastly improved rail service.
“The truth, however, is that the new timetable shows this will be anything but the case.”
Clackmannanshire and Dunblane MSP Keith Brown said this week: “On behalf of constituents, I have raised the issues highlighted with the new timetable with ScotRail Alliance Alex Hynes and currently await a response.”
And Stirling MP Stephen Kerr added: “After all the disruption and money spent to provide electrification commuters should expect to see faster services and more capacity at peak travel times. The new timetable is not delivering on that expectation and it needs sorting out very quickly.
“Long-suffering commuters have been putting up with poor service for years while paying a lot of money for that privilege. All they want is to be able to get to and from work quickly, at the right times and in reasonable comfort.”
A ScotRail spokesperson said this week the new timetable represented the first stage of “improvements” to the service and further timetable changes were expected over the 12 months.
He insisted there was “no change” in the one-train-per hour frequency of the Dunblane-Edinburgh service, adding: “Improvements we are making to our timetable from December mean ScotRail has reached another milestone as we build the best railway Scotland has ever had.
“This is just the first phase of the work we are doing to deliver for our customers over the next year.
“The investment the ScotRail Alliance is making to modernise the railway, introduce new and upgraded trains means we will deliver faster journeys, more seats, and more services for our customers.”
Long-suffering commuters have been putting up with poor service for years