It's overall very positive:
Doubles frequency at Shieldmuir
Faster services to Glasgow from Lanark, Carluke, Wishaw, Shieldmuir.
More fast services to Glasgow from Motherwell, Bellshill, Uddingston, Cambuslang.
The new timetable also ties in the Whifflet and Cumbernauld services better providing new journey opportunities like Coatbridge - Hamilton and Whifflet stations to Motherwell.
There are 1tpd services Motherwell - Edinburgh via Holytown and Glasgow - Carstairs via Holytown that avoid closure procedures on the old Lanark routes.
The only question is how a future Ravenscraig station would be served. Presumably there would have to be an extension of the 1tph Hamilton Circle that terminates at Motherwell and the 1tph Whifflet terminator both to Wishaw giving a 2tph service to Ravenscraig.
Excellent news for the Argyle Line, on the whole. Of course there'll be some winners and losers.
Lanark to the High Level is much more operationally sensible than Whifflet to the High Level, and will dramatically reduce journey times. The road to Lanark is dodgy at times, so you could really encourage shift onto rail here, over and above the benefits for Wishaw and Carluke. Journey times are now regularly close to 50 minutes and every 30 mins. Much quicker than the current situation where trains run at 40/20 headways via two different routes, and taking in excess of an hour calling at all stops. Direct loss of the link to the West of the City will impact few people I suspect, and I think that a transfer at Central/Cambuslang will be just as feasible.
Motherwell now has half-hourly fast services to GLC High level, reducing journey times compared to the stopper. It looks like the via Whifflet train will also be a viable option from Motherwell every hour, giving additional services to GLC.
Motherwell-Coatbridge is now effectively half hourly (1tph to Cumbernauld via Coatbridge Central, 1tph to Glasgow via Whifflet, which calls at stations in Coatbridge). This places the train in a better place to compete with the unreliable and painfully slow 201 bus, and the road - rail is by far the fastest way to get from Coatbridge to Motherwell, but with just 1tph it's not competitive. Hamilton also benefits from a link to Coatbridge throughout the day - no more 59 minute connections at Motherwell! And, of course, Cumbernauld continues to benefit from an hourly link to South Lanarkshire.
Holytown loses 1tph and a direct link to South Lanarkshire - this is a shame, but it is a lightly used station. 2tph to Glasgow Central be restored if the 1tph GLC-EDI express additionally calls here.
Bellshill and Uddingston services are almost all now going into the High Level, reducing journey times. Of course,
you can't please everybody as you'll be axing service to the low level line, but connections at Cambuslang look fantastic. The 1tph from here to Hamilton that is being lost (not an advertised link - train technically terminates at Motherwell) will likely be a limited loss, as I suspect the bus picks up most of this market. However, there will be a journey time increase due to a ~20 minute transfer.
Whifflet services will be DOO - this will benefit passengers in that the guard/ticket inspector will now be visible rather than simply opening and closing doors (I'm fully expecting a tirade of hate for this, but DOO is not suitable on this route). Links to Rutherglen must benefit people too, as will the direct train to Exhibition Centre. Journey times actually don't appear to be significantly extended despite the longer route and additional stops. There will also be more seats, as trains will be 3-6 cars long. Services to Patrick and beyond are a bit longer than from the North Clyde Line, so I suspect there's minimal benefit in the link to the West of the city, and that the North Clyde will be better for most passengers.
All in all, this is fantastic and fills in a lot of gaps. Yes, there are some losers here, but they've recast it well and services will now focus on key flows, create new flows, and I think will encourage a huge shift onto rail.
I don't know if Ravenscraig is certain to happen. If it does, I would agree that a Wishaw-Whifflet-Glasgow Central LL service is the most likely route, which would also generate 2tph to Holytown once again as an additional benefit! The 1tph terminating at Motherwell from Hamilton Circle actually continues as Motherwell - Whifflet, so that will not continue to Ravenscraig I'm afraid. If the demand is there, this could change to:
2tph Glasgow-Whifflet-Ravenscraig-Wishaw
2tph Glasgow-Hamilton-Motherwell-Cumbernauld
Which would not change the number of services through Glasgow. That option is there for growth if needed.
I'm really impressed with this timetable. Look forward to seeing it work. I can think of dozens of occasions where this would have benefitted me when I used to live in Coatbridge.
Not much else in Scotland otherwise.
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