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I doubt many people use the nortbound Highlander for connection to other flights, especially not the FW portion. Also I suspect passengers have been told with ample time to replan if necessary.
Flights/ferries from Aberdeen to Shetland, or Glasgow to the Hebrides, or Inverness to fly to Orkney (as I have done) or onward to Thurso for the ferry.
Fort William has onward connections to Mallaig for the Hebrides
And southbound passengers may well be going for a flight from Heathrow or Gatwick.
Flights/ferries from Aberdeen to Shetland, or Glasgow to the Hebrides, or Inverness to fly to Orkney (as I have done) or onward to Thurso for the ferry.
Fort William has onward connections to Mallaig for the Hebrides
And southbound passengers may well be going for a flight from Heathrow or Gatwick.
Quite alot in your post there but not much that stands scrutiny.
1. The south bound trains haven't been subjected to the same planned delays so the Heathrow/Gatwick link doesn't stand up.
2. If going to Mallaig and your FW CS is delayed, you just get the next train! Odds are it would be the one your would have connected to anyway.
3. The two flights per day out of Inverness and Aberdeen tend to have early morning (before sleeper arrival) or mid/late afternoon flights. CS delays don't really factor then.
4. The Lowlander services are not impacted in the same way as the Highlander by bad weather.
I agree, changing an arrival time from 09:55 to 12:00 is outrageous. Ok, the service might arrive before 12:00 but its not guaranteed. To add on another 125 minutes to basically avoid delay repay with 8 hours notice is a bit naughty imo. They also brought forward the departure time by 133 minutes this evening, thats no good to anyone who is uncontactable through no fault of their own because they're out enjoying a days walking for example.
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I don't think we need to agree to disagree. We can just look at the evidence. We know there are seven arrivals each night and we know you provide an indomitable service on here telling us when they are late. So every night you don't brief us on 7 specific delays, we can draw conclusions from that. We can also draw conclusions from people that use the service as to the quality and overall lived experience.
I am interested though as to why you have such a dislike of the CS. You say its "not for you" but you are one of the most prolific posters on this thread? It certainly forms an important part of your daily business then.
Correct, being able to just change times to suit certainly helps them be top of the table. Let's not for get the enormous amount of padding in the timetable as well, particularly on the Lowlander. Or the recent trend in just not stopping at stations because nobody is booked on at. That will end in tears one day with over carries and someone missing the train.
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Flights/ferries from Aberdeen to Shetland, or Glasgow to the Hebrides, or Inverness to fly to Orkney (as I have done) or onward to Thurso for the ferry.
Fort William has onward connections to Mallaig for the Hebrides
And southbound passengers may well be going for a flight from Heathrow or Gatwick.
A very common connection is the Eurostar from St Pancras, a minimum connection time of 90 minutes is recommended, passengers this morning would not have made it. New year plans potentially ruined.
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I doubt many people use the nortbound Highlander for connection to other flights, especially not the FW portion. Also I suspect passengers have been told with ample time to replan if necessary.
You really should use the CS from time to time - you would find it isn't the nasty boogeyman you seem to think it is. IMHO it is the best and one of the most reliable long distance north/south train services.
With regards the current weather, it really is looking like it will be terrible. Edinburgh have already cancelled most of tomorrow's events.
It's not just the Highlander though. Wait until that Birmingham Int carry on starts. Although with every timetable change that goes by it's looking less and less likely it will happen anytime soon.
I assume that the revised schedules were planned around the need to pass the day trains. When Northbound late running is unplanned the delays escalate because it keeps having to wait for a southbound day train.
Given the amount of rain in the NW over the past few days I'm almost surprised that the Monessie gorge hasn't flooded, blocking the line. And no sane person would be on the hills - they would probably be grateful for the early access to their berths.
I believe that CS are acting in a proactive, safety-conscious and realistic manner by giving timely advance warning to their customers that because of exceptional weather conditions the journeys will be prolonged. I don't care if Delay Repay is involved or not. I just want my train operator to get me to where I am going in a safe and timely manner. They have my full support in their actions in these circumstances.
Given the conditions CS deserve credit for running a full service.
It would be very easy to throw in the towel.
CS have run as many trains between Crianlarich and Fort William today as ScotRail, the Highland main line was closed for a substantial part of the day and LNER terminated the down Inverness as Edinburgh: the line had reopened however the up LNER from Inverness was terminated at Aviemore due to the line conditio and presumably returned to Inverness.
Thank you for confirming there is something then. We can only guess at what this TOC has done to make you dislike them with such a passion and perhaps one day you will share your experience with other travellers. In the meantime though, we can only go on the evidence which points to the CS offering a good service.
As others have said, and just listening to the weather outside right now, the CS deserve credit for attempting to run any services!
Thank you for confirming there is something then. We can only guess at what this TOC has done to make you dislike them with such a passion and perhaps one day you will share your experience with other travellers. In the meantime though, we can only go on the evidence which points to the CS offering a good service.
As others have said, and just listening to the weather outside right now, the CS deserve credit for attempting to run any services!
You're very mistaken, I do not dislike the CS at all. I know one or two staff members are they're lovely people.
Nonsense, ScotRail and LNER took the sensible decision not to run services between Perth and Inverness because of the weather and 40mph speed restrictions and utilise road transport instead. CS still tried to run 1S25 and it got as far as Blair Atholl where it remains and all passengers decanted onto road transport once they waited on it arriving. One look at the weather this morning told you that line was never going to be open to traffic.
How do you find this out Scotrail84 that 1s25 only made it to Blair Atholl. I wake through the night and check rtt and it says if I can remember about 40 minutes late.
Mind you I am on strong tablets.
I love tracking the sleeper as I have the fondest memories of that route and I would like to think there is some accurate tracking out there.
I am interested though as to why you have such a dislike of the CS. You say its "not for you" but you are one of the most prolific posters on this thread? It certainly forms an important part of your daily business then.
A slight shifting of the goalposts there? The saliant facts as I see them then are you don't use the CS unless you have "no other option" but nevertheless devote a great deal of time telling us everytime one of the trains is late. If they cancel a service, you criticise. If they delay a service, you criticise. If the attempt to run a service, you criticise. Overall then, your messaging is consistently negative against the CS and it doesn't really stack up against the lived experience.
How do you find this out Scotrail84 that 1s25 only made it to Blair Atholl. I wake through the night and check rtt and it says if I can remember about 40 minutes late.
Mind you I am on strong tablets.
I love tracking the sleeper as I have the fondest memories of that route and I would like to think there is some accurate tracking out there.
Real-time train running information for 1S25 2115 departure from London Euston to Blair Atholl, Fort William and Aberdeen on 30/12/2024. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.
www.realtimetrains.co.uk
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A slight shifting of the goalposts there? The saliant facts as I see them then are you don't use the CS unless you have "no other option" but nevertheless devote a great deal of time telling us everytime one of the trains is late. If they cancel a service, you criticise. If they delay a service, you criticise. If the attempt to run a service, you criticise. Overall then, your messaging is consistently negative against the CS and it doesn't really stack up against the lived experience.
Attempting to run 1S25 to Inverness was madness imo. SR and LNER made the call yesterday not to run services today and utilise road transport to/from Perth. Why do CS think they are going to have a better chance of their train getting through than 2 seasoned TOCs? They actually gave themselves a lot more grief and disruption than was necessary this morning.
The change of timings is almost presented here as a bad thing. Surely it is anything but? It is good to see that CS are making allowances for the terrible weather here - yellow warnings for wind and snow - and adjusting their journeys accordingly. Anyone who has travelled with the CS knows they regularly push out SMS updates and, as always, those that choose not to travel with the revised timings are offered the option of a refund.
Does that include compensation for connecting (train, at least) services, given that I think the only way to buy that in one transaction is as a walk-up ticket and a Sleeper reservation?
Does that include compensation for connecting (train, at least) services, given that I think the only way to buy that in one transaction is as a walk-up ticket and a Sleeper reservation?
Wherever you buy the through ticket from would be responsible for refunding it, as per the NRCoT, without an admin fee, as one of your trains has been amended since booking.
Wherever you buy the through ticket from would be responsible for refunding it, as per the NRCoT, without an admin fee, as one of your trains has been amended since booking.
How about hotels and connecting other modes of transport ?. It is why no one I know relies on the railways since the strikes for fear of being left stranded. Even though there do not seem to have been strikes for ages people just view railway travel as risky - even I do really.
How about hotels and connecting other modes of transport ?. It is why no one I know relies on the railways since the strikes for fear of being left stranded. Even though there do not seem to have been strikes for ages people just view railway travel as risky - even I do really.
I know what you mean and of course, for a lot of flying, people possibly have holiday insurance (I would) but for rail travel perhaps not.
But would an airline compensate you for their (justifiable) inability to carry you ?.
Certainly I would expect a hotel near the airport if take off was postponed enough.
Any delay that is the airline fault, and any change done under 14 days (for whatever reason) may lend you at most £600 under whatever country's variant of EU261
Any delay that is the airline fault, and any change done under 14 days (for whatever reason) may lend you at most £600 under whatever country's variant of EU261
The bit in bold is key - bad weather and the associated disruption does not lead to compensation. Nor if it is other reasons beyond the airline's control. So if airline rules were applied to yesterday's CS journeys, there would be no compensation payable.
Perhaps CS were working on the basis that the flooding would at some point subside, hopefully allowing 1S25, or by that time rather 5S25, to continue to Inverness to form tonight's Up train as booked?
Perhaps CS were working on the basis that the flooding would at some point subside, hopefully allowing 1S25, or by that time rather 5S25, to continue to Inverness to form tonight's Up train as booked?
There is no service tonight with it being hogmanay, the set was supposed to stable in Inverness presumably on shore supply until Thursday the 2nd. Now the whole lot will need to return to Polmadie to be cleaned and CET'd and then run up empty on Thursday to form 1M16. Thats assuming theres depot staff and cleaners on hand over the next few days who are able to prep the set.
I looked for the path of the empties on RTT but I couldn't find anything.
It's also a very tricky run round required at Blair Atholl as well with it being a 66/73.
But had the line re-opened the stock could have got to Inverness, no? And whether it terminated at Perth instead of Blair Atholl, and could not get through, the Polmadie move would still have applied.
The bit in bold is key - bad weather and the associated disruption does not lead to compensation. Nor if it is other reasons beyond the airline's control. So if airline rules were applied to yesterday's CS journeys, there would be no compensation payable.
But had the line re-opened the stock could have got to Inverness, no? And whether it terminated at Perth instead of Blair Atholl, and could not get through, the Polmadie move would still have applied.
After how long though? Crews could have been well out of hours by the time the line opened up again if it did, plus there was miles and miles of 40mph speed restrictions to pass through. It's my opinion it should have been planned to terminate at Perth where it's easy to get everyone off, its a staffed station for assistance, then on to buses or taxis and straight up the A9. Job done.
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www.realtimetrains.co.uk
