Signalling fault kicked off day of railway problems

Commuters were left stranded after a signalling fault caused chaos on Aberdeen railway lines.

The fault happened at peak rush-hour yesterday, leading to services between Aberdeen and Inverurie being cancelled, delayed or revised.

ScotRail staff had to put on bus replacement services for commuters.

The fault was fixed shortly after 9am after which train bosses worked to restore a normal timetable.

After a morning announcement that ScotRail planned to run a “full service” they later altered their advice due to high winds, and urged passengers not to travel unless essential.

Andrew Simpson, from Rothes, contacted the company to complain after he missed a meeting due to a cancelled train at Dyce.

Another commuter, Heather Doran, was left stuck. She said: “I usually take the train to work from Aberdeen to Dundee and back again.

“I checked the advice, and the advice given was that ScotRail expected to be running a normal service throughout the day.

“At lunchtime they issued a tweet saying ‘only travel if necessary’ and the website said the DundeeAberdeen route was still fine – but then the British Transport Police issued a tweet saying no trains are going to or from Dundee, north or south. The weather doesn’t seem any worse than expected but the train companies seem to have seriously underestimated the impact the weather would have.”

Shortly after noon services between Inverurie and Edinburgh via Aberdeen were suspended due to high winds in the Central Belt. A ScotRail Alliance spokesman said: “The signalling fault was separate to the weather and quickly resolved. There were some cancellations.

“We are really sorry to customers for the disruption caused by Storm Ali. We are working flat out to keep people moving where possible but our advice to customers is not to travel unless absolutely essential.”