ON TRACK FOR HUMILIATION!

++ Rail cuts threaten chaos for supporters at Scotland’s World Cup play-off ++ Golf fans at The Open face being stranded in St Andrews

FEARS are growing that Scotland could be turned into a laughing stock as savage rail cuts threaten to cause chaos at a series of major sports events.

Fans across the country are being told to brace themselves for major disruptions after newly nationalised ScotRail slashed almost a third of all services earlier this week amid a pay dispute with drivers.

Almost 50,000 Scotland supporters will be at Hampden next Wednesday night for the vital World Cup play-off semi-final against Ukraine.

Thousands of golf fans also face the risk of being left stranded at St Andrews during this summer’s Open Championship due to a vastly reduced rail timetable.

Scottish Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth claimed she ‘understands’ the concerns of supporters, but insists ScotRail have a plan in place to prevent a nightmare scenario unfolding.

Addressing the Ukraine game, she said: ‘This is, of course, Scotland’s

most important game in a long time and we really want to ensure supporters can get to and from the match on public transport using, where possible, our bus services across Scotland.

‘SCOTRAIL is aware of the various large cultural and sporting events across the summer and the impact the reduced timetable might have on them. It’s currently being reflected by SCOTRAIL in terms of how they will address that.’

However, Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie told Ms Gilruth that Scotland will suffer ‘humiliation’ if the services are not resolved in time for the Open Championship at St Andrews.

Ms Gilruth said since the event is still some time away, she hoped ‘to reach a resolution’ with the unions before then and in advance of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which runs from August 5 to August 29.

The 150th anniversary of The Open will get under way on July 14, with the R&A expecting record crowds of 290,000 to descend on St Andrews.

It had been promised that the Scottish Government would provide a ‘significantly enhanced’ level of public transport for the showpiece event.

Getting to St Andrews via train remains the suggested mode of travel on the R&A website in a bid to ease traffic congestion.

But a vastly-reduced timetable is now in operation and, with no immediate resolution to the pay dispute in sight, it may well still be in place by the time The Open begins.

That would cause havoc for an event which should be one of the highlights in the sporting calendar as the Claret Jug returns to the Home of Golf — with fans being warned they could end up being stranded.

St Andrews does not have its own train station. The nearest is Leuchars, where bus links to the golf course will be provided.

However, as per the revised timetable, services from Leuchars to all of Scotland’s main cities are greatly reduced.

The last service from Leuchars to Edinburgh on weekdays is currently 8.58pm. That would also be the service most people would use if travelling from Glasgow and the west, given there is no direct line.

For the Dundee and Aberdeen line, the last train leaving Leuchars is at 9.39pm. The R&A also state on their website that there will be no designated parking areas anywhere close to the golf course.

The local Lib Dem councillor for St Andrews, Jane Ann Liston, believes it could present fans with the very real prospect of not being able to get home afterwards.

Councillor Liston, who is a rail campaigner, believes there is no way the road network around St Andrews would be able to cope with such a mass of traffic should people decide to drive instead.

‘I’m worried St Andrews is going to be swamped with even more cars than usual,’ she said. ‘It is quite a small settlement, but it is the Home of Golf and therefore it is only right that it stages the tournament.

‘But it was designed in medieval times for nothing more than the odd horse and cart. It’s almost like trying to fit a quart into a pint pot in terms of the amount of people who are going to be there.

‘Everyone works very hard — the police, the council as well as the R&A. But this is throwing a bit of a spanner into the works.

‘We are supposed to be cutting car journeys. They’re not doing any good for the environment. So anything that encourages people to drive cars is an extremely bad, retrograde step.

‘They have laid on park-and-ride facilities, which I think is out near Guardbridge. They’re encouraging drivers to come and park there and then get the bus into St Andrews.

‘There’s also the Golflink facility. The Golflink ticket will take you to Leuchars and there will be a connecting bus waiting for people coming off the train.

‘I’ve been keeping figures over the past 20 years or so about the Scottish Golflink usage. It’s been something like 12 per cent of people attending St Andrews use the golf link facility.

‘The R&A think that they might have around 290,000 people attending this year — record-breaking, as is often the case at St Andrews.

‘So, we’ll be talking about roughly 34,000 people who would have been expected to use the Golflink. ‘If that’s not there, or it’s not considered reliable enough, then what are they going to do?

‘They could go for the park-and-ride option. That’s going to mean extra capacity with the buses required. Is that capacity actually there?

‘Getting home will be the main concern for a lot of people. Things are so uncertain at the moment. If you are relying on the rail service, there’s no guarantee of being able to get home afterwards.

‘The Scottish Government must find a solution to this. I can’t believe that they didn’t see this coming. They announced some time ago that Abellio was going to lose the franchise.

‘You would have thought they would have been working behind the scenes to get these things sorted out with the trade unions. But it would appear they haven’t done so.’

A SCOTRAIL spokesman said: ‘It’s too early to comment on events this summer.’ The R&A were also approached for comment.