ScotRail cancelling services July 2024

[Scotrail84]

Last train from Edinburgh to Dundee tonight is in 4 minutes time at 18:35 and it says it's sold out on the ScotRail webpage!

Sold out of advance purchase cheaper fares. Anyone can join this train with any valid open or day return or single ticket.

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Last train from Edinburgh to Dundee tonight is in 4 minutes time at 18:35 and it says it's sold out on the ScotRail webpage!

LNER’s north of Edinburgh are exceptionally busy on a Sunday. Busy on all days, but the majority of walk ups are on Sundays hence the increased loads.

 

[Davester50]

Sold out of advance purchase cheaper fares. Anyone can join this train with any valid open or day return or single ticket.

I know that, and you know that. Does the average person in the street know that?
When National Rail says no fares available, I doubt it.

The screenshot below of the no fares available for the last train of the day to Dundee and Aberdeen is hardly welcoming.

 

[Starmill]

Neither ASLEF or RMT will accept a multi year deal that isn't linked to RPI/inflation.

Indeed, totally reasonable negotiating position.

 

[GordonT]

Seems Scotrail are running extra services for the festival despite a temporary timetable. Just watched a Phil Campbell from ScotRail talking on Reporting Scotland:

Following is reproduced from X/Twitter this evening.
Source: https://x.com/ScotRail/status/1820139705666584756

Perhaps there was internal confusion within ScotRail around whether the additional 0015 from Edinburgh-Glasgow QS journey belonged in the Monday timetable (when the festival enhancement was advertised to start). In reality it won't start until the first hour of Tuesday!

Passenger:
Has the 00:15 train Edinburgh to Glasgow been cancelled? It was available earlier today but it’s now gone. How are we expected to get home from Edinburgh now??

ScotRail:
The last service to operate from Edinburgh to Glasgow will be the 22:00 service Emma, I'm afraid no later services are scheduled to operate today. ^Ste

Passenger:
The 00:15 was scheduled earlier today when I left. Now I’ve a car in Croy and tickets to a show which doesn’t finish until 22:10. So will you be refunding the tickets I can now no longer use? This is pathetic service during the festival.

ScotRail:
Sorry for any misinformation Emma, if you wish to make a claim to us for anything, use https://scotrail.co.uk/form/customer-relations and our team can take a look at that for you. ^Ste

 

[FlybeDash8Q400]

Following is reproduced from X/Twitter this evening.
Source: https://x.com/ScotRail/status/1820139705666584756

Perhaps there was internal confusion within ScotRail around whether the additional 0015 from Edinburgh-Glasgow QS journey belonged in the Monday timetable (when the festival enhancement is was advertised to start). In reality it won't start until the first hour of Tuesday!

I’m trying to work out which plan was more bizarre. That one or the one where the 09:00 Queen St-Edinburgh failed to stop at Polmont, when it isn’t meant to in the base timetable apparently. Despite this all ScotRail systems showed it as stopping. Planning error you’d think. Ouch.

 

[Sealink]

Only train from Inverness to Wick cancelled today, and tomorrow's early train to Inverness cancelled. And this is with the temporary timetable. Sheesh.

 

[fraser158]

Tomorrow the 0718 Elgin to Inverness (which is in the normal and temporary timetable) is cancelled, and the 0656 Elgin to Inverness (which is in the normal but *not* the temporary timetable) is re-instated.

This is reflected on journey planners but only the cancellation of the 0718 appears on journeycheck.com/scotrail.

Odd.

 

[northscots]

At least you have some trains. There are none at all from Oban today, and with the coaches full, people are having to hire taxis.

On the matter of pay increases, inflation is only 2%, private sector increases are falling, and there is no reason why Scotrail should offer more to railway staff than the Council's offer to their employees. The public sector is broke, unless Westminster, in settling increases down South, provide more cash to Scotland.

Pay awards are usually based on January RPI, which was 4%. This is the pay awards for the previous 3 years, which are well below the cost of living increases. Also the new pay offer covers 3 years, with no link to RPI.

2021-2022 2.5% pay rise vs 1.6% inflation
2022-2023 5% pay rise vs 11% inflation
2023-2024 5% pay rise vs 10.1% inflation
2024-2025 2.5% (proposed) pay rise vs 4% inflation

Scotrail staff haven't been offered more than council workers. Scottish councils pay offer is 3.2%, which they have also rejected. In England the council pay offer is between 2.5% and 5.77% depending on banding.

 

[chuff chuff]

The

Tomorrow the 0718 Elgin to Inverness (which is in the normal and temporary timetable) is cancelled, and the 0656 Elgin to Inverness (which is in the normal but *not* the temporary timetable) is re-instated.

This is reflected on journey planners but only the cancellation of the 0718 appears on journeycheck.com/scotrail.

Odd.

Did the 0656 run?

 

[ld0595]

The

Did the 0656 run?

According to NRE, yes it did

 

[Dfatcontroller]

Tomorrow the 0718 Elgin to Inverness (which is in the normal and temporary timetable) is cancelled, and the 0656 Elgin to Inverness (which is in the normal but *not* the temporary timetable) is re-instated.

This is reflected on journey planners but only the cancellation of the 0718 appears on journeycheck.com/scotrail.

Odd.

Train Planning team cancelled the 0656 in preference of running the 0718 in the temporary timetable however local knowledge in the North prefer the opposite to happen as the 0656 connects at INV with the Highland Chieftain.
Planning team haven't caught up yet and the switch of services to run is arranged by Control arrangement daily.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Aug 2024 ==

I’m trying to work out which plan was more bizarre. That one or the one where the 09:00 Queen St-Edinburgh failed to stop at Polmont, when it isn’t meant to in the base timetable apparently. Despite this all ScotRail systems showed it as stopping. Planning error you’d think. Ouch.

App and base Customer facing information showed Polmont.
Driver diagram and TRUST schedule showed not.

Guess which one the Driver works to?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Aug 2024 ==

Only train from Inverness to Wick cancelled today, and tomorrow's early train to Inverness cancelled. And this is with the temporary timetable. Sheesh.

Wick Driver worked to Inverness and was then unwell.
Therefore only one unit on hand at Wick so the 0802 ran.

 

[InvHst]

A 6 car 170 is more that capable of handling an Inverness or Aberdeen service capacity and luggage wise, the main issue is short platforms at Dalwhinnie Southbound and Newtonmore. As well as Portlethen on Aberdeen route.

Considering the shear size that some bags that tourists bring now no they aren't suitable in any format I've travelled on the 1050 Edinburgh on Monday and Saturday the turbo part of the 170/158 could not cope with the shear amount of luggage

 

[chuff chuff]

Considering the shear size that some bags that tourists bring now no they aren't suitable in any format I've travelled on the 1050 Edinburgh on Monday and Saturday the turbo part of the 170/158 could not cope with the shear amount of luggage

Probably one if the worst things invented for the travel Industry,bags/cases with wheels just encourages the taking of bigger and heavier luggage.

 

[Deafdoggie]

We were originally touring Scotland by train, but are now doing by car. One of our stop-offs was Dunrobin Castle. They happily say they have a free luggage store and it doesn't matter what size your luggage. When destinations are gearing themselves up for tourists & the railways don't, the railways just get more & more irrelevant for more & more people.

At the moment Scotrail aren't just not actively chasing revenue they are actually purposefully deterring people from ever using trains again. This could, of course, be government policy. Railways are a financial black hole to them.

Bus, coach and car hire companies are booming in Scotland. I called in at our local branch of a national car hire company and asked about hiring a car in Scotland. They chuckled and said the railways had done more for their business than all their advertising campaigns ever had.

It's sad to see the railways going, but I can hire a car for £200 compared to over £1,000 I spent on train fare.

 

[Scotrail84]

Probably one if the worst things invented for the travel Industry,bags/cases with wheels just encourages the taking of bigger and heavier luggage.

There used to be an excess luggage charge, 3 items of luggage per person not over a certain size, I'm not sure if there still is though. Used to charge for bikes as well.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Aug 2024 ==

Considering the shear size that some bags that tourists bring now no they aren't suitable in any format I've travelled on the 1050 Edinburgh on Monday and Saturday the turbo part of the 170/158 could not cope with the shear amount of luggage

Would a 5 car HST be much better though? Its technically 4 though as you lose a whole coach to First Class and the buffet (which is a real waste of space too)

 

[snookertam]

We were originally touring Scotland by train, but are now doing by car. One of our stop-offs was Dunrobin Castle. They happily say they have a free luggage store and it doesn't matter what size your luggage. When destinations are gearing themselves up for tourists & the railways don't, the railways just get more & more irrelevant for more & more people.

At the moment Scotrail aren't just not actively chasing revenue they are actually purposefully deterring people from ever using trains again. This could, of course, be government policy. Railways are a financial black hole to them.

Bus, coach and car hire companies are booming in Scotland. I called in at our local branch of a national car hire company and asked about hiring a car in Scotland. They chuckled and said the railways had done more for their business than all their advertising campaigns ever had.

It's sad to see the railways going, but I can hire a car for £200 compared to over £1,000 I spent on train fare.

The reality is that trains cannot compete with car transport. This has been evident since the covid lockdowns, people got far more used to using their cars for even non essential journeys and haven’t looked back. The genie is out of the bottle here and only punitive government policy towards car usage would ever do anything about it, but that would likely cause unrest.

Those in charge of ScotRail would be as well concentrating on what it can do and who it is likely to use the service, than pretending it can compete. There’s a reason Saturdays are the busiest day, it’s when people are more likely to drink. That’s the main reason many people use the train now.

A downsized ScotRail is inevitable. Even if it isn’t this year or next, it is coming. Those involved in the current dispute are still living in an era where the railway was growing and big demands could be made. Those demands may still be successful, but the future success of the railway in Scotland will be further stunted as a consequence. It’s not going to be around in its current form forever.

 

[northscots]

The reality is that trains cannot compete with car transport. This has been evident since the covid lockdowns, people got far more used to using their cars for even non essential journeys and haven’t looked back. The genie is out of the bottle here and only punitive government policy towards car usage would ever do anything about it, but that would likely cause unrest.

Those in charge of ScotRail would be as well concentrating on what it can do and who it is likely to use the service, than pretending it can compete. There’s a reason Saturdays are the busiest day, it’s when people are more likely to drink. That’s the main reason many people use the train now.

A downsized ScotRail is inevitable. Even if it isn’t this year or next, it is coming. Those involved in the current dispute are still living in an era where the railway was growing and big demands could be made. Those demands may still be successful, but the future success of the railway in Scotland will be further stunted as a consequence. It’s not going to be around in its current form forever.

Scotrail is growing. It's latest passenger numbers show a 27% increase over the previous 12 months, the only TOC that performed better was Elizabeth Line

ScotRail Sees Second Largest Increase in Passenger Journeys In Latest Financial Year Figures

A new study from Office of Rail and Road, analysed by West Somerset Railway has revealed that passenger rail journeys have surged by 27% on ScotRail in the latest financial year statistics compared to the previous year.

www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com

 

[sigma421]

The reality is that trains cannot compete with car transport. This has been evident since the covid lockdowns, people got far more used to using their cars for even non essential journeys and haven’t looked back. The genie is out of the bottle here and only punitive government policy towards car usage would ever do anything about it, but that would likely cause unrest.

Is it quite this simple? Surely the weekend trips which have bounced back and grown are more likely to be the types of things people did by car pre-COVID?

I do agree on the overall problem though. The business model of the railway in the UK was to price gouge people who had to be in a city centre before 9:30 in the morning five days a week. If you needed to go from Stirling to Edinburgh five days a week, there wasn't really another option and so long as the train was cheaper and less hassle than trying to park in Edinburgh City Centre (and it was), it generally won out. This meant their passenger base skewed towards knowledge economy workers commuting relatively long distances (by daily work commute standards). Unfortunately, this is exactly the group for which flexible working has stuck. Some of that slack has been filled numbers wise with leisure travellers but they're more price sensitive and more likely to look into alternatives (particularly since for all but 38 years of your life, long distance bus travel is now free). This also means that demand is far more varied across the 7 day week than it ever was and the peaks have moved.

What's the answer? I'm honestly not sure. It's not been smooth but the railways in Scotland have generally improved quite a bit over the 30 or so years I've been using them and it's a real shame to see that start to slip backwards but the old revenue stream isn't coming back and with long distance coach operators and alternatives like driving to Ingleston and getting the tram available, I don't see how the railway can charge the fares it would need to in order to remain sustainable (given that the Scottish budget means higher subsidies would be a very difficult option).

 

[Kite159]

Scotrail is growing. It's latest passenger numbers show a 27% increase over the previous 12 months, the only TOC that performed better was Elizabeth Line

And compared to 2019?

How much of that increase can be assigned to the guards/Ticket examiners being allowed to do revenue, rather than during the Covid era where it was seen as a free train for passengers at unbarriered stations (and even for barriered stations, short faring skyrocketed)

 

[Deafdoggie]

Scotrail is growing. It's latest passenger numbers show a 27% increase over the previous 12 months, the only TOC that performed better was Elizabeth Line

Numbers maybe. But fares paid?

 

[Western Gaffer]

We were originally touring Scotland by train, but are now doing by car. One of our stop-offs was Dunrobin Castle. They happily say they have a free luggage store and it doesn't matter what size your luggage. When destinations are gearing themselves up for tourists & the railways don't, the railways just get more & more irrelevant for more & more people.

To be fair, it's somewhat easier to find spare space for luggage in a massive 189-room castle set within vast grounds than on any sort of train!

 

[northscots]

And compared to 2019?

How much of that increase can be assigned to the guards/Ticket examiners being allowed to do revenue, rather than during the Covid era where it was seen as a free train for passengers at unbarriered stations (and even for barriered stations, short faring skyrocketed)

Down around 20% vs 2019. I was replying to a post that stated numbers were declining, which is not true.

 

[Deafdoggie]

Down around 20% vs 2019. I was replying to a post that stated numbers were declining, which is not true.

If it's down 20%, I'd say that's declining.

 

[najaB]

If it's down 20%, I'd say that's declining.

They can both be true at the same time. There was a massive drop in 2020 but they've been increasing since 2021.

 

[northscots]

If it's down 20%, I'd say that's declining.

I'd disagree. It declined and is now increasing again. Plenty of TOCs where post covid growth has been a lot slower

 

[Bill57p9]

There used to be an excess luggage charge, 3 items of luggage per person not over a certain size, I'm not sure if there still is though. Used to charge for bikes as well.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 6 Aug 2024 ==

Obviously Lumo's luggage policy is well known. I am currently booking some ViaRail travel in Canada and they have a similar "pay per item" luggage policy.

Would a 5 car HST be much better though? Its technically 4 though as you lose a whole coach to First Class and the buffet (which is a real waste of space too)

If only the HSTs had been built with luggage space in an otherwise unusable area, such as the back of each power car...

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

I'd disagree. It declined and is now increasing again. Plenty of TOCs where post covid growth has been a lot slower

Below is from ORR data portal which shows good recovery but still c15% below pre covid average but this is better than plenty of other operators

 

[Scotrail84]

Obviously Lumo's luggage policy is well known. I am currently booking some ViaRail travel in Canada and they have a similar "pay per item" luggage policy.


If only the HSTs had been built with luggage space in an otherwise unusable area, such as the back of each power car...

4 car HST on the 13:35 Edinburgh to Inverness today service and the train was rammed, luggage and people everywhere, the way people stack luggage though, it leaves a lot to be desired.

 

[Retorus]

Is there a reason why the number of carriages per remaining train can’t be increased on the Kilmarnock/East Kilbride lines? The number of services has been cut and you’ve still got rammed two coach services trundling around…