PASSENGERS’ VIEW

Edinburgh Waverley was quiet at peak time last night. Most of the passengers were tourist. Here's what some of them had to say...

Katy Young, a bakery worker from Newcastle, and her chef husband Declan were in Glasgow on their honeymoon.

Declan, 25, said: “My dad rang and told me to make sure we had a way to get home. I didn’t know about the strike before then.”

Katy, also 25, said: “We decided to get an earlier (train) just in case. It means we have to wait around Edinburgh for an extra hour before getting the train to Newcastle but at least that’s running. We would’ve been left stuck in Edinburgh otherwise.”

Biology graduate Mia Richmond, 23, of Yorkshire, was en route from Darlington when passengers were told all stops after Newcastle were cancelled but managed to catch another train there. She said: “I’m here for my graduation at St Andrews. I now need a lift as there’s no trains from Edinburgh.”

Bjørn Gustavsen, 55, from Norway, was on a week’s holiday with his daughters Dina, 21, and 17-year-old Emma. Oil and gas worker Bjørn said: “We’ve just come up by train from York. It was very quiet.”

Dina Gustavsen said: “We were supposed to travel to Inverness on a 5.30pm train but it was cancelled. We’re getting a Megabus instead which takes four hours. We were told there would be a train tomorrow but we are on vacation and couldn’t wait.”

Care assistant Joanne Bruce, 51, of Berwick, was in Glasgow for her 28-year-old daughter Kathleen’s Open University graduation ceremony. Joanne said: “The last train to Berwick is at 5pm. If we didn’t get that we would’ve been stranded. Normally there’s trains until about 8.30pm.”