Rail network is vital in climate emergency

ScotRail’s proposed new timetable has proven controversial among commuters in Stirling, Dunblane and Bridge of Allan.

Among other changes, journey times to Edinburgh and Glasgow are set to increase by up to a quarter of an hour.

That means those journey times will be back to roughly the same level as they were before electrification.

Anyone who used any of those stations while the electrification work was going on will know that significant disruption was caused.

Services were reduced, cancellations were frequent and replacement bus services common.

While deeply frustrating for any commuter, it was, I think, mostly understood that the prize of lower emissions and faster journey times would make the suffering worth it in the long term. Long suffering commuters shouldn’t have to tolerate backtracking now.

While rail use naturally declined during the pandemic, a popular and accessible rail network will be a vital component in our response to the climate emergency.

Transport remains one of the biggest polluters in Scotland and as we recover from the pandemic it’s vital we get more people out of cars and on to trains. The Scottish Government is aiming for a 20 per cent reduction in motor vehicle miles by 2030; that’s going to need investment across all public transport.

With limited funds available a more efficient railway is needed, but that can’t be at the expense of the quality of the service.

After ScotRail announced their consultation on the new timetable I organised an online public meeting, which gave people from across the region a chance to voice their concern directly to ScotRail bosses who came along to explain some of their choices.

People from Dunblane and Bridge of Allan at the meeting were deeply frustrated that having been shunted from pillar to post for many years, their services were once again going to take a hit. Some said they could no longer justify taking the train rather than the car. ScotRail admitted that their offering was “not competitive” when compared with some road routes, especially Perth to Edinburgh. That’s a cause for concern, because an unpopular service won’t experience a revival if those in charge simply make it worse in response.

If we want to deliver rail services that meet passenger’s needs then they must be co-designed by the people who need it and work on it. Some changes will be needed but it is too early to predict how much rail will bounce back after the low demand caused by Covid lockdowns.

Where acceptable savings can be found, they need to be reinvested to drive improvements rather than driving people away. The danger is that once new travel routines are found by commuters it will be harder to tempt them back to rail, even if timetables and services are built back up again in the future as patronage increases.

Next year the rail franchise will finally come into public ownership and that presents us with a big opportunity to instil confidence in the railway and turn it into a central pillar of our transport recovery from the pandemic. I want to see the passenger experience central to the design of new services from the outset, Scotrail’s current timetable proposals are not a good start.

Time -table changes are not a good start for Scotrail