The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Cable thieves cause chaos for train passengers
Theft leads to more than 30 services being cancelled to Fife, Dundee and Perth
More than 30 rail journeys to Fife, Dundee and Perth were cancelled yesterday after thieves made off with almost 50ft of valuable line cable.
A total of 32 services across the region were called off after the missing links caused a fault on the line between Inverkeithing and North Queensferry at noon.
A total of 17 journeys through Fife were among those scrapped after the fault was reported, with further routes to Perth, Dundee and Edinburgh cancelled.
The incident is being investigated by the British Transport Police (BTP).
ScotRail arranged for rail users to board Stagecoach East services between Dundee and Inverkeithing, with “limited” replacement buses in use between Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee and stations in Fife.
Services were affected throughout the day and evening.
Fife commuter Gary Thomson was travelling from Edinburgh to Inverkeithing when he witnessed a female passenger collapse in a crammed carriage.
Gary said: “It was so busy you couldn’t see two or three folk in front but the lady collapsed and everyone was passing water bottles around. She seemed to come round quite quickly.
“I just think it could have been handled a bit better.”
Elizabeth Carpenter, from Kirkcaldy, travelled to Dundee by train in the morning but found herself making the return journey by replacement bus.
“We got to Dundee, went to the platform and were just told that there were no trains due to signalling problems in Edinburgh so two buses were laid on instead,” she said.
“I can imagine people going to Edinburgh, trying to go to a meeting or trying to catch a flight would have been quite angry. Our bus driver wasn’t happy because they didn’t know what was happening.”
Chris Laird, from Kelty, was waiting at Kirkcaldy to pick up his wife Katie, who had been beset by cancellations and delays.
He said: “She was meant to be getting the train back to Queen Margaret in Dunfermline but that was cancelled so she’s on the train to Kirkcaldy. It’s fair to say she was a wee bit crabbit when she phoned.”
Dundee University student nurse Lynne Gillanders, 21, feared she would miss her 6.30pm flight from Edinburgh to Dublin after her train from Dundee, due in at 3.34pm, was cancelled.
ScotRail arranged for a taxi to take her to Edinburgh Airport.
She said: “I was very stressed. I didn’t know how I was going to get there. ”
A Network Rail spokesman said: “We are working hard to get services back to normal as quickly as possible while BTP investigate the crime.”
A ScotRail spokesman added: “We apologise for any disruption faced by customers as a result of the theft of cabling.
“We are as frustrated as our customers that thieves have caused so many issues for people just trying to go about their day. We are working flat out to get services back to normal as soon as possible.”