New blow to rail travel

Weekend trains off for five weeks

Rail passengers in Stirling are facing yet more travel misery as busy weekend services to Glasgow and Edinburgh are to be scrapped for up to five weeks.

A raft of cancellations and changes are set to be introduced next Saturday, October 22, due to work being undertaken to upgrade the rail network across central Scotland.

Services running on the Edinburgh to Stirling, Dunblane and Perth route are set to be cancelled over five weekends until Sunday November 20. They will operate only between Edinburgh and Falkirk Grahamston or Polmont, with replacement buses in action.

Trains on the Glasgow Queen Street to Stirling, Dunblane and Perth route will also be scrapped for five weekends, with buses running from Falkirk High.

A number of other weekend services running through Stirling will be affected prior to the works being completed in December, with diversions to Fife and Cumbernauld commonplace.

The disruption is sure to spell more misery for rail travellers, who are already without some services to Edinburgh on week nights after 8.30pm.

Trains between Glasgow and Stirling were also subject to delays for around four months due to works being carried out at Glasgow Queen Street earlier this year.

Scotrail Alliance said the changes are being brought in due to the latest phase of work on the rail network.

They say the introduction of new electric trains will ultimately lead to more than 200 daily services being added, with an extra 20,000 seats each day.

The company’s Jacqueline Taggart said: “We are going through a massive period of change on Scotland’s railway.

“The work that we are carrying out over the next few months will bring about a revolution in rail with more and better trains, more services and more seats than ever before.

“However, while we transform the railway there is inevitably going to be some impact on people’s services.

“We are doing everything we can to minimise this, and to keep people moving.

“That is why we have set up a new, interactive webpage that helps customers see at a glance what is happening when they wish to travel.

“No one likes having their journey changed.

“However, this short-term disruption will lead to a more reliable, better rail network that will rank amongst the very best.”

People whose travel plans are likely to be affected by the disruption are being urged to check the Scotrail interactive timeline which outlines some of the key changes. It can be found by visiting scotrail.co.uk/ improvements.

The work will bring about better trains, more services and more seats than ever before