Scotrail’s app proves it deliberately skips stops, says commuter

Trains: Company accused of cutting corners to meet punctuality targets

Scotrail’s own mobile phone app has proved the railway firm deliberately skips scheduled stops during the morning rush hour.

One screengrab of the official app shows that yesterday the rail firm skipped four stops on the 07:09 Dundee to Edinburgh service – arriving at its destination on time.

The peak hour train decided to speed past stops at Kinghorn, Burntisland, Aberdour and Dalgety Bay – despite passengers waiting at the station in the cold to get on.

The same stops were also skipped on Monday and Tuesday this week leaving more potential passengers in the lurch.

Critics claim Scotrail is skipping stops to hit government-imposed punctuality targets.

Yesterday, one outraged commuter, Daryl Motion, posted a screenshot of his Scotrail app showing the “cancelled” stops on Twitter.

“

Who decides thatyour customers in Burntisland, Aberdour and Dalgety Bay are less important than anyone else on the route for the third time this week?

DARYL MOTION

He wrote: “Scotrail why has the 8:06 train from Burntisland to Edinburgh Waverley been cancelled again for the third time this week?

“Also who decides that your customers in Burntisland, Aberdour and Dalgety Bay are less important than anyone else on the route for the third time this week?”

Community Facebook page, What’s Happening Dalgety Bay today said: “For the third time this week, Dalgety Bay 8.15 trains cancelled, whoops sorry skipping station to make up time so Scotrail can fudge the figures to the Scottish Government about none of their trains been late so keeping there service standard.”

On Wednesday, Fife councillor David Barratt wrote an open letter to Scotrail’s managing director, Alex Hynes, accusing the firm of skipping stops to meet punctuality targets.

A Scotrail Alliance spokesman said: “We absolutely understand how frustrating it is for customers when services miss out stations or are cancelled and do everything we can to minimise it, but it is a very rare occurrence and is only done to limit further disruption to customers across the wider network.

“Missing out stations happens in less than half of one percent of all scheduled stops in Fife, which highlights just how rare it is.”