Unreliabilityisonlycertainty
Dear Editor I was surprised to read in the Wednesday, December 5 edition of the Stirling Observer that Councillor Majury had helped organise the public meetings in Dunblane and Bridge of Allan on Monday, December 3 to discuss community concerns with our rail services.
Having done all the preparations for the meetings, and chairing them, I was completely unaware of his involvement.
My party colleague Mark Ruskell MSP, SNP Councillor Graham Houston and Conservative MSP Alexander Stewart, had all put forward suggestions and asked questions of ScotRail.
It was clear from the tone of the meeting that our constituents are totally fed up with the awful service being provided by ScotRail and I was pleased to see the cross-party engagement by Stirling area’s rail commuters will, more than most, be looking forward to the festive season break.
It means that for a few days they will not have to battle their way to work on a train service which, at the moment, for many travellers, can be relied on only for its unreliability.
Months of disruption caused by the line electrification work was followed earlier this month by the introduction of a new timetable which prompted complaints of longer journey times at peak periods for passengers on the Edinburgh-Stirling- Dunblane service.
And the problems do not seem to be easing with reports on Monday of 100 services cancelled on the Scottish network.
Scotrail said most of the disruption was caused by staff shortages caused in part by employees undergoing training.
I travelled into Glasgow by train on Thursday and Friday of last week and must have been one of the lucky ones as, by and large, I encountered few problems. Trains into Glasgow were on time and not overcrowded although the service I used was not peaktime.
Coming back at Thursday teatime was, however, a different matter, with one Dunblane train cancelled leaving me with a three-quarters of an hour wait .
I had been hoping to jump on an Aberdeen-bound train but was told by a member of station staff that the service I inquired about was the only one during the day that didn’t stop at Stirling.
Mine was, therefore, a mixed experience and I can see why many travellers are turning their backs on the train and opting for the car or coach.
The rail authorities say the service will return to reliability once the line work is finished and timetable changes have bedded in but should people have to put up with months more of disruption before that happens? Surely, it’s now time for politicians from all sides to step in and bang some rail industry heads together and have them address travellers’ complaints of cancelled trains, skip stopping and insufficient carriages on some services. The commuting public and the economy deserve better.
As ever I would be interested in your view: email john.rowbotham@ trinitymirror.com, or write to the Observer at 34 Upper Craigs, Stirling, FK82DW.
John Rowbotham, Editor