Rush-hour fury as rail travellers still being left stranded
RUSH-HOUR commuters are still being left stranded as trains bypass busy stations in a practice known as ‘skip stopping’.
ScotRail operators Abellio promised last month to stop trains from travelling past stations at peak times.
But bosses at ScotRail pledged only that they would ‘protect the busiest peak-time services’.
Skip stopping is still happening at rush hour on trains travelling in the opposite direction to the so-called ‘peak flow’.
ScotRail bosses decreed a rush-hour Edinburgh to Glasgow train which missed several stations was not a peak service – because it arrived after 9am.
Last night, Scottish Labour transport spokesman Neil Bibby said: ‘This looks like an absolute scandal.
‘This skip stopping pledge was already full of caveats and loopholes. Now it barely looks worth the paper it was written on.
‘Passengers will be getting fed up of
‘This looks like an absolute scandal’
being told improvements are coming when they are barely recognisable.
‘Transport Minister Humza Yousaf should explain if he thinks this is acceptable.’
More than 20,000 people have signed a petition calling for Abellio to be stripped of its £7billion, ten-year contract unless ScotRail improves.
Mr Yousaf said in October the level of skip stopping by ScotRail trains was ‘unacceptable’. He vowed to end Abellio’s deal if the service deteriorates further.
In an improvement plan, ScotRail vowed to ‘greatly reduce the incidences of skip stopping and the need for us to cancel trains at short notice’.
After it was revealed last month that eight ScotRail trains a day were deliberately skipping stops, ScotRail promised to ‘protect the busiest peak-time services’.
But despite that passengers are still being left stranded by skip stopping from 8-9am and 5-6pm.
Five days after ScotRail’s pledge, commuters reported that the 8.15am service from Edinburgh to Glasgow had missed several stops.
It is understood that ScotRail does not consider it a main peak service because it arrives at its destination after 9am.
In another example of skip stopping an evening peak-time train from Larkhall, Lanarkshire, missing seven stations before reaching Glasgow.
A ScotRail Alliance spokesman said: ‘As announced in November, our new approach means we protect the busiest peak-time services.
‘The majority of these are commuter trains travelling towards a major population hub in the morning and away from it in the afternoon.’
She added: ‘An exception is peak services between Edinburgh and Glasgow via Falkirk High, where we protect services in both directions at the height of the morning and afternoon peaks.’
The spokesman said that skip stopping only affected ‘a minuscule number of services’.
But she said: ‘We do appreciate it has an impact on cuswere tomers on board, hence the new approach which will mean far fewer customers are affected if we have no other option but to miss out a station.’
Transport Scotland said: ‘ScotRail’s measures to reduce skip stopping quite rightly focus on peak-flow services.
He added: ‘Any suggestion efforts to reduce skip stopping ever intended to include all services misrepresents the truth.’
In addition to the row, Mr Yousaf was also accused yesterday of hypocrisy over his frequent use of ministerial limousines while calling for people to use public transport.
Recently published records show that he avoided the summer’s rail strikes chaos by using chauffeur-driven Government cars.
In the first four months of his tenure, which began on May 18, Mr Yousaf averaged one limo journey per working day.
Meanwhile, he attended a ceremony at which ScotRail yesterday unveiled the first of its 70 new Class 385 electric trains in Glasgow.
Built by Hitachi Rail Europe, these ‘faster, longer, greener trains’ will come into service from September 2017.
‘Appreciate it has an impact’