Grrr, Scotrail!

A quick snap taken on the way home from work, before heading for a lovely evening with friends. I am not happy with Scotrail though, as they have changed the morning timetable of trains to Stirling, and I foresee a winter of regularly being late for work now.

I have almost always travelled on one of two trains to get to work usually the 7:48 Dunblane service, but as it is cancelled fairly regularly, any time it was particularly important to be in early or just to be sure I got in, I would get the 7:41 Aberdeen train, which for all it leaves just a few minutes earlier, arrives 15 or 20 minutes earlier. Because the Aberdeen train is an express, it is a priority for Scotrail, and they make every effort to run it. The Dunblane one is not a priority and so is cancelled at the drop of a hat - more literally at almost any late running of the previous service which uses the set (railway speak for the carriages and engine) which makes up the train. Unlike the Aberdeen service which just runs late, this one is simply cancelled and the best you get is an apology through the loudspeaker. The next service to Stirling is half an hour later, making me in the best case scenario about 15 minutes late for work.

On Monday they brought in a new timetable, and it's not just a winter timetable this time, it's for the whole year. According to the new timetable, the 7:41 Aberdeen service no longer stops in Stirling, its first stop being Dunblane and the 7:48 Dunblane service only runs to Stirling (so hard luck to anyone trying to get to Bridge of Allan, as they'd need to wait for 30 minutes in Stirling to get the next Dunblane train just after nine).

After asking some questions of the conductor and station staff in Stirling (all of whom are of a pretty similar opinion to me about the ridiculousness of the new timetable), it turns out that the Aberdeen service does still call at Stirling, but only to pick up passengers, the Stirling commuters it seems are a nuisance and take seats from those important people going to Aberdeen! My monthly £167.10 means nothing! So I spent my lunch hour composing a nice complaint e-mail to Scotrail. I wonder what the response will be! I did get an acknowledgement saying they would get back to me about my e-mail within 7 days - ah, customer service!

It was a slow journey home, and given the weather conditions I have no problem with that, and can understand the delays completely. My problem with Scotrail is not weather delays, it's questionable priorities!

Thankfully my lovely evening eating wonderful food in great company with interesting discussions and world-to-rights-setting (if only the people in power listened to us, everything would be okay ;) ) has put me in a much better mood, with the added benefit that I think I will probably be able to roll to work without worrying about the train tomorrow morning!