Rail commuters in travel chaos
Morning rush hour shambles on EK line
Commuters in East Kilbride slammed the railway service in town after rush hour chaos on Friday.
Signalling problems on the line between East Kilbride and Glasgow Central started in the early hours of the morning on Friday, September 16 – with the line expected to have been repaired before 8am.
However, several delays throughout the day meant that the service was only back in use by late afternoon on Friday – with commuters once again able to travel just before rush hour at 4pm.
Scotrail set up a replacement bus service travelling directly between East Kilbride and Glasgow train stations.
Alternatively, commuters with a valid Scotrail ticket were able to travel on First Glasgow local buses on the route.
Locals, unhappy at the delays called for improvements on the line.
David Warnock told the News online that he could not believe that the delays had occurred due to signalling issues: “It’s the 21st century and we’re still getting signalling problems whether it be rail or road. Disgraceful - definitely need to do better,” he said.
Jane Mac found problems on the day with the replacement buses, revealing on Facebook that she had been unable to get the bus as they were removed to help schools.
She said: “It’s poor when the bus service there to replace rail service doesn’t turn up and rail staff say they have no control over the buses as they may have been pulled off for school runs.”
David Martin slammed the service, adding: “Wonder when the toy town rail line that runs to EK is going to be brought up to a reliable and modern standard? Don’t miss a daily trip on it one bit.”
A ScotRail spokeswoman apologised for the delay, and urged any commuters who were delayed for 30 minutes or more to seek a refund.
She said: “We apologise to customers for delays to their journey due to signalling issues on the East Kilbride line.
“We put a replacement bus service in place and ask that customers – if delayed by 30 minutes or more as a result of this problem – retain their tickets to claim a refund through our Delay Repay scheme.”