Extreme weather in the north of Scotland expected to arrive as a result of Storm Caroline means some train services will be suspended from the start of service on Thursday.
With the Met Office predicting wind speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, the following services will be suspended:
– Aberdeen to Inverness
– Inverness to Wick
– Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh
– Glasgow Queen Street to Oban/Fort William/Mallaig
A safety inspection will be carried out on these routes in the morning, and a further decision will be taken about when to resume services.
Speed restrictions will also be in place for services between Perth-Aberdeen and Perth-Inverness due to expected winds of up to 60 miles per hour. This means trains will be slower and services will be disrupted.
Tickets already purchased for a cancelled service will be eligible for use from today up to, and including, Monday. Customers who do not wish to travel, but have already purchased a ticket for an affected route, will be given a full refund.
Customers who wish to travel are advised to check their service in advance via @ScotRail on Twitter, or on the ScotRail app.
David Lister, Safety and Sustainability Director at the ScotRail Alliance, said:
“With the Met Office predicting wind speeds of up to 90 miles per hour, we have taken the decision to suspend some services from the start of service on Thursday. This isn’t a decision that we have taken lightly, but the safety and security of our staff and customers must come first.
“Our staff will be working round the clock to get services back to normal and get customers moving as soon as possible.
“Customers should keep up to date with the latest information by checking @ScotRail, the ScotRail app or the website.”
The ScotRail Alliance has set out its winter weather plans, as Storm Caroline prepares to hit Scotland in the coming days.
Winter can have a significant impact on the railway, with its effects ranging from speed restrictions on exposed routes, to services being suspended due to avalanches.
Winter weather can impact the railway in the following ways:
– High winds can blow objects on to the line, meaning trains have to travel slower to ensure they can safely stop short of any obstructions.
– Points (movable sections of track, allowing trains to move from one line to another) can freeze up, preventing trains from accessing certain routes or platforms.
– Extremely low temperatures can sometimes prevent train carriages from attaching, leading to fewer carriages on services.
– Up to three tons of snow can accumulate on the underside of trains. In the past trains have been damaged by snow and ice falling from the undercarriage and bouncing back up. Trains have to be removed from service for safety checks when this happens.
– Heavy rain can cause flooding and landslips. When these occur, trains have to be stopped until the line has been cleared, and a thorough safety inspection of the track carried out.
To limit the impact of winter weather on its service, the ScotRail Alliance will take the following actions:
– Specialist meteorologists will map weather events as they approach, allowing us to deploy chainsaw teams and engineers to where they’re most likely to be needed.
– Teams will work to identify and remove any potentially dead and dangerous trees, which could be blown over the tracks, before high winds arrive.
– A helicopter fitted with thermal imaging equipment will be used to highlight areas to engineers where cold weather could cause problems.
– A £1 million ‘winter train’ will be used to defrost points and other key parts of the railway affected by snow or ice. The train, which will be used across Scotland, features hot air blowers and heat-lances, which are used to thaw critical infrastructure and allow staff to reopen the line quicker.
– Ten snowplough trains will also be on standby.
– Engineers will be working 24/7 to prevent vulnerable infrastructure freezing in the first place, with some equipment being fitted with heaters.
– Maintenance depots are being fitted with heated polytunnels, high pressure hot water ‘jet washes’, and space heaters to reduce the time required to defrost trains, and get them back in service quicker.
If severe weather is expected, contingency timetables will be created and customers informed. ScotRail’s website and social media channels will have full details of any changes to the train service. A series of roadshows are also being held across the country to inform customers about what the ScotRail Alliance is doing to keep people on the move. The ScotRail Alliance will update customers later today with the expected impact of Storm Caroline.
ScotRail Alliance Infrastructure Director David Dickson said:
“Winter is a particularly challenging time for the railway – snow and ice can damage trains, and can prevent the supporting infrastructure from working correctly.
“People know from their own lives the impact winter weather can have, and that applies even more so to the railway.
“That’s why we have invested in specialist equipment, so that when bad weather strikes we can keep our customers moving.
“Our staff will be working flat out, night and day, to get customers where they need to be, while ensuring that the safety of our customers and staff remains our number one priority.
“We’ll keep our customers up-to-date with the latest travel information on the ScotRail app, our website, and our Twitter feed.”
Humza Yousaf, Minister for Transport and the Islands said:
“We are working closely with the ScotRail Alliance to ensure they are ready for the challenges winter will bring, including Storm Caroline. Passengers can be reassured every effort is being made to make Scotland’s railways as resilient as possible, from using technology to pinpoint potential problems to having snow ploughs at the ready.
“At the forefront of that effort are the scores of staff working round the clock in all kinds of challenging weather to keep trains moving. The ScotRail Alliance is doing all it can to minimise seasonal disruption as far as possible but some disruption is inevitable. We would ask passengers to play their part by checking all the available travel information in advance.”
With Christmas less than a month away, the ScotRail Alliance has said it will do everything it can to keep people moving during the holidays.
Releasing details of train times for the Christmas and New Year period, the ScotRail Alliance encouraged customers to plan their journeys now. The last trains of the day will depart earlier than normal on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, and there will be changes to train times over the Christmas and New Year period.
The ScotRail Alliance has set up a dedicated webpage to provide customers with information on train times over the holidays. The website can be viewed at scotrail.co.uk/Christmas.
Important details include:
– As with previous years, no trains will run on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day.
– On Boxing Day a limited service will run in parts of the west of Scotland, and trains on some routes in and around Glasgow will be replaced by buses to allow major improvement works to take place. Signalling equipment and overhead power lines will be upgraded, and sections of track will also be replaced on the west coast mainline.
– All trains will run as normal between 27 and 30 December, with the exception of the Cumbernauld to Motherwell route, which is replaced by buses while improvement works take place.
– On Tuesday, 2 January a reduced service will be in place across much of the country, with trains starting from mid-morning.
Improvement works on the main route west from Edinburgh Waverley will be taking place:
• Edinburgh to Bathgate services will be replaced by buses
• Edinburgh to Dunblane services will start/terminate at Linlithgow instead of Edinburgh
• Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High services will be diverted
Graham Heald, the ScotRail Alliance’s head of customer experience, said:
“We will be working flat out to keep people moving during the Christmas and New Year holidays.
“But with many of our customers taking time off work to be with their loved ones, the network is quieter between Christmas and New Year. That means it’s an ideal time to carry out vital improvement works while causing as little disruption to our customers as possible.
“There will be changes to train times, so we encourage our customers to plan their journeys now on our app or at scotrail.co.uk.”
• Autumn conditions mean heavier leaf fall by mid-October
• Annual performance at 91.1 per cent
• Daily rail clearing teams keep network open as part of £2.6m investment
New figures published today show that leaf fall so far this autumn is more than double what it was at the same point last year.
The figures show that 52 per cent of leaves have fallen already – compared to 24 per cent by this week in 2016.
The information was published as the latest ScotRail Alliance performance figures were released.
The ScotRail Alliance’s moving annual average – the rolling performance for the previous 12 months – now stands at 91.1 per cent. This means 91.1 per cent of trains arrived within five minutes of their scheduled time.
This remains above the UK-wide performance for the previous 12 months, which stands at 88.4 per cent.
The ScotRail Alliance’s performance for the four weeks to 14 October 2017 was 88.3 per cent.
Leaves on the line mean drivers must brake and accelerate more slowly than normal, which causes delays and disruption. Other factors impacting performance in recent weeks include four incidents of cable theft or vandalism, a fault with overhead wires, and an empty third party locomotive mistakenly passing a red signal, resulting in all signals on that line turning red. This meant all trains on that line were stopped until Integrated Control could establish why this happened and resume safe operations.
The ScotRail Alliance is investing £2.6million to keep the trains moving during the autumn – including 11 leaf fall teams and a fleet of seven specialist leaf-busting trains.
ScotRail Alliance Infrastructure Director David Dickson said:
“Our investment and efforts to keep our network open in autumn are paying off. We understand just how important it is to run a punctual, reliable service for our customers. That’s why we are investing £2.6million to keep people moving during the autumn.
“While often scoffed at as an ‘excuse’ for delays, leaves on the line are a big problem for the railway as they make rails dangerously slippy. We’re tackling the difficult conditions created by leaf fall every day just now.
“This has been a challenging few weeks, but we are doing everything we can to address any problems that arise quickly, to take preventative action wherever possible and make sure that our customers are given good quality information. It’s all part of our plan to build the best railway Scotland has ever had.”
Picture caption – One of seven Railhead Treatment Trains in action at Stirling.
The electrification of the Edinburgh to Glasgow mainline took positive steps forward on Wednesday, as the ScotRail Alliance prepares for full testing of its new trains on the electrified route.
One of the new Class 385 electric trains – which has still to be fitted with interiors – successfully travelled between Edinburgh and Linlithgow at 02:00 hours on Wednesday 18 October.
This marks clear progress for the infrastructure as this is the first time that an electric train has travelled on any section of the route.
When the final safety checks on the infrastructure along the remainder of the route are complete, full testing of the new trains will begin.
The new fleet will enter passenger service over the next few months, offering faster journeys, more seats and better services for customers travelling between Scotland’s two biggest cities.
ScotRail Alliance Programmes and Transformation Director Ian McConnell, said:
“Yesterday’s trial was a hugely important step towards completing the electrification of the line between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Having a train run on the route is one of the final phases of the electrification process. That it has gone so well tells us that we are almost ready to begin the next stage – which is to start fully testing the new trains themselves.
“We are building the best railway that Scotland has ever had. When we replace the diesel trains with the brand new, state of the art, electric fleet we will deliver enormous benefits to our customers. Cleaner, greener travel – with more seats and faster journeys will completely transform travel between our two biggest cities.”
Hitachi Rail Europe Programme Manager Andy Radford, said:
“It’s positive so see that progress is being made on Edinburgh to Glasgow electrification.
“We’re hopeful that we’ll be given permission to start full testing soon so we can guarantee the trains can run for passengers safely. We’ve now got trains at our factory in Newton Aycliffe ready to travel to Scotland as soon as they can run on new electric power line.”
– 80 percent of £million giveaway tickets gone in 5 hours
– Customers snapped up tickets at a rate of 3 per second
Over 80 percent of ScotRail’s free off-peak tickets were snapped up within 5 hours of launching the Million Pound Giveaway.
At its peak, three tickets a second were being given away – amounting to over 10,000 per hour.
The free tickets were available on routes across the country, including journeys linking Scotland’s ‘seven cities’, as well as the scenic routes to Fort William and the Kyle of Lochalsh.
Rob Shorthouse, ScotRail Alliance Communications Director, said: “Our million pound ticket giveaway is proving to be hugely popular. Our website suppliers told us that the first hour of the giveaway was more like the first hour of Glastonbury tickets going on sale. It was just incredible.
“We are building the best railway that Scotland has ever had. We are just delighted that so many people have taken up our offer to have a day out in our beautiful country on us.”
Image: ScotRail Alliance managing director Alex Hynes promotes the Million Pound Giveaway with team members from Edinburgh Waverley. (Credit: ScotRail Alliance).
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The City of Edinburgh Council are about to launch an Active Travel Challenge which is open to everyone working or living in Edinburgh.
The challenge is free to take part and runs for 6 weeks from Monday 31st July for 6-weeks, ending on Sunday 10th September. You can sign up to the challenge at any point during the 6 weeks. All you need to do is log your time spent travelling actively for both your commuting and leisure trips each week – once you sign up you will receive a weekly email with a link to log your trips.
Whether you walk, cycle, run, hop, skip, jump, scoot or skate your way around the city you could be in with a chance to win some fantastic prizes including a GoPro Hero and a Garmin Cycle Sat-Nav worth £150 each!
There are also various spot prizes on offer including zoo tickets, Go Ape and gym passes.
To register just fill in a few brief details here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/EdinburghATC_SignUp.
The organisers will send you an email to confirm that sign up has been successful and provide you with any information you need to participate in the Challenge including information on the prizes up for grabs each week of the Challenge.
If you have any queries about the challenge contact the organisers directly on: edinburghtravelplanning@sweco.co.uk
– More services, late-night trains and extra carriages compared to the regular timetable
– Trains will be very busy, so people are urged to plan their journeys in advance
The ScotRail Alliance is urging people going to Edinburgh’s August festivals to plan their journeys in advance, as it announced more services, late-night trains and extra carriages for the three-week extravaganza.
Thousands of people will travel to Edinburgh for the events, which means services will be much busier than normal.
Highlights of the ScotRail Alliance’s August festivals programme include:
– Additional late night trains between Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street (via Falkirk High) operating daily, departing from Edinburgh at 00.01 and 00.30.
– A major increase in the number of carriages between Glasgow and Edinburgh, particularly Friday to Sunday, both via the Airdrie/Bathgate line and via Falkirk High
– Many extra carriages between Edinburgh and Fife on Friday evenings and all day Saturday and Sunday
– An extra service running after midnight between North Berwick and Edinburgh, getting people to and from the Fringe by the Sea
Perry Ramsey, Operations Director at the ScotRail Alliance, said:
“Edinburgh’s August festivals are one of the highlights of the year, attracting talent and tourists from all over the world. It’s a great chance to showcase the very best of Scotland.
“The ScotRail Alliance will once again do everything it can to help the events run smoothly. We will put on more services, late-night trains and extra carriages compared to our regular timetable.
“But despite these extra services and carriages we are putting on, trains will be very, very busy during the festivals. Thousands of people will be travelling to and from Edinburgh to enjoy the great attractions the festivals have to offer.
“To make journeys as hassle free as possible we are urging passengers to plan their journeys in advance by visiting scotrail.co.uk, downloading the ScotRail app and buying a ticket before they board.
“We are also encouraging passengers to use all the available services between Edinburgh and Glasgow, including Glasgow Central, and the high and low levels at Glasgow Queen Street.”
Comedian Craig Hill, who will perform his Someone’s Gonna Get Kilt show at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), said:
“It’s very exciting to have the Edinburgh Festival Fringe happening again, especially with the 70th anniversary celebration.
“The city gets packed with people from all over the world enjoying the shows and the atmosphere, so of course the streets as well as the trains will be very busy.
“Make sure you plan your Fringe experience and your journeys in advance, so it’s all nice and easy and make sure you have loads of fun, fun, fun!”
Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said:
“We are delighted that the ScotRail Alliance is providing extra rail services to and from Edinburgh during August.
“These additional services will make it easier for people to enjoy the Fringe and Edinburgh’s other major festivals, and also comfortably get back to their homes right across Scotland’s central belt.”
• Bus operator launches Services N1 and N2 between Edinburgh and West Lothian
• Services provide new, cheaper late night travel option for customers
• N1 and N2 serving key destinations and available on Friday and Saturday nights
Local bus operator, First West Lothian, has announced plans to launch two new weekend night services, linking Edinburgh with West Lothian.
Services N1 and N2 will operate on Friday and Saturday evenings and will be available from Friday, 28 July.
The services have been launched in response to customer feedback which highlighted the absence of public transport between Edinburgh and West Lothian after midnight at weekends.
With a package of cut price fares available, these services will now offer customers a cheaper travel option when planning a night out in the capital
The services have been introduced in time for this year’s Edinburgh Festival, which starts on 4 August.
First West Lothian Managing Director, Paul McGowan, said: “We’ve listened to feedback from customers who helped us identify a key gap in public transport provision between the capital and West Lothian overnight at weekends.
“We’re very pleased to be launching these services and to be offering customers a cheaper late night travel solution.
“We’ll be operating some of our newest vehicles on these services, providing customers with a high quality travel experience after a night out enjoying Edinburgh’s many attractions.”
About the services:
• Service N1: Operates from Edinburgh Regent Road to Bathgate, via St Johns Road, Newbridge, Broxburn, Uphall, A89 to Bathgate.
• Service N2: Operates from Edinburgh Regent Road to Deans, via Dalry Road, Sighthill, Wilkieston, East Calder, Livingston Terminal and Carmondean.
• From Edinburgh: Both services will operate two journeys and will depart from Edinburgh Regent Road at 0100 and 0200 on Fridays and Saturdays.
• Service N1: Operates two journeys from Uphall to Edinburgh, departing 0010 and 0110 on Fridays and Saturdays.
• Service N2: Operates two journeys from Livingston Terminal to Edinburgh, departing 0013 and 0113 on Fridays and Saturdays.
About the fares:
Adult Singles: Travel within Edinburgh – £3.00; Edinburgh to anywhere in West Lothian – £6.00; Travel solely within West Lothian – £4.00
