20.05 from Glasgow Central to Neilston

[Timster83]

I have an unusual query which I have been engaging with Scotrail about on Twitter.

A couple of times each week when returning home from the Gym, I take the 20.05 from Glasgow Central (GLC) to Neilston (NEI). On the departure boards at the station, on the Scotrail website/app and on NRE, the train is timed to depart at 20.05 and arrive at NEI at 20.36.

However, every time I take this journey, the driver announces it as the 20.07 service. The doors close at 20.06 and the service departs at 20.07.

I initially queried this on Twitter a few weeks ago and they said that they would feed this back.

On my return from a trip abroad this week, I contacted them again because the issue was still present and the person responding said that it should be leaving at 20.05 as timetabled. (The full conversation history is in my replies section at https://twitter.com/timster83/with_replies)

I wonder what the correct timing is though, because the 20.05 service is timetabled to take two minutes longer to get to Neilston than all the other services and this extra two minutes is timetabled to occur between Patterton and Neilston (the last two stations on the line).

I strongly suspect that the service should indeed be scheduled to depart at 20.07 and that the public timetable is wrong. It feels bad to continually highlight to Scotrail over such a small issue (esp. as it could be worse if the train was leaving "early"!), but what are the thoughts of why this has happened and how we can get it fixed (whether the driver or timetable is at fault).

 

[sammyg901]

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/G83189/2015/07/23/advanced

It is timetabled like that so it isn't the drivers fault

Possibly there is a conflict so it cannot depart at 20:05 but it keeps the clock face timetable neat to the public

 

[DeparturesBeck]

As sammyg901 says, it's just a difference between the public timetable and working timetable. The train crew will be working off the working timetable, hence announcements for 20:07.

 

[380101]

It's a difference between the public tt and the wtt. Quite a few trains leaving from Central leave later than advertised departure time. The 1500 central to Ayr train actually leaves at 1501, this is to avoid conflict further down the line.

Not really a big issue and it ultimately keeps delays down due to less conflict at junctions etc.

 

[Deepgreen]

I think the driver should announce it as the 2005 as per the public timetable.

 

[headshot119]

I think the driver should announce it as the 2005 as per the public timetable.

He probably should, though it depends if the diagram card actually tells the driver that the WTT times are different to the PTT times.

 

[Class 170101]

The schedule card should or if Scotrail drivers are issued with WTTs this should show the difference as a letter after the first two numbers.

 

[A-driver]

Happens all the time at Cambridge. The trains are advertised as xx45 fast to kings x (from Lynn). But they are scheduled as te xx46 or xx47 depending on the hour. Many drivers go in their schedule cards and announce it as the xx47 to kings x only. Not a major issue as it's fairly obvious that it is the same train.

 

[Crossover]

Presumably this would make it appear on the station boards as being 2 late every evening, even though it is RT as per the WTT?

 

[A-driver]

Presumably this would make it appear on the station boards as being 2 late every evening, even though it is RT as per the WTT?

That isn't uncommon and happens all day long at many stations in the UK. However the train obviously isn't late and still arrives at its destination and other stations on time.

 

[Crossover]

That isn't uncommon and happens all day long at many stations in the UK. However the train obviously isn't late and still arrives at its destination and other stations on time.

Oh indeed - probably not ideal from a PR perspective though!

 

[A-driver]

Oh indeed - probably not ideal from a PR perspective though!

I'd argue that it's far better to present an easy to remember clock face time table (ie train to London leaves at 26&56 past each hour) than passengers having to remember that there is a 1027,1056,1129,1157,1226 etc...

 

[Crossover]

I'd argue that it's far better to present an easy to remember clock face time table (ie train to London leaves at 26&56 past each hour) than passengers having to remember that there is a 1027,1056,1129,1157,1226 etc...

Having recently been in, and used, rail transport in the Irish Republic, I would agree - over there it is simply a mess! At least, it was on the line I used a few times

I'm sure it still won't stop the "why is my train always 2 minutes late?" brigade though!