Angus stop skipping figures laid bare after MSP’S intervention

Angus South SNP MSP Graeme Dey has welcomed a commitment from Scotrail that it is reviewing its overall performance, including the use of stop skipping.

He was advised that over the past 12 months 170 scheduled stops out of 22,370 for Arbroath were skipped, 97 scheduled stops out of 11,685 for Carnoustie were skipped and 32 scheduled stops out of 2,398 for Monifieth were skipped.

Mr Dey said there is a common misconception that intermediate stops are removed when trains run late to enhance Scotrail’s performance figures.

However, any train that fails to call at its scheduled station stops fails its Public Performance Measure (PPM) which is then classed as a part-cancelled train and there is no performance benefit to that train.

He said: “While I appreciate that in truly exceptional circumstances, Scotrail may have to cancel stops, this is I feel taking place too often.

“Stop skipping is extremely inconvenient and should be minimised as much as possible.

“I am pleased that Scotrail is reviewing its performance levels and that this will include the use of this practice.”

Scotrail said that stops are only removed to recover its train service when late running occurs.

Where it has a train running outside of its scheduled operating path, if its control team doesn’t intervene it can delay other on-time trains, causing disruption to spread across the network and subsequently inconvenience even more customers.

It said it is reviewing its overall performance, with a plan being worked on to make improvements which will include the use of stop skipping.