‘Second class’ rail service after express trains cut, says MSP Baillie

Scotrail is giving commuters in the Helensburgh area ‘a second class service, MSP Jackie Baillie has said.

She has written to the Scotrail Alliance to demand a meeting with the managing director to discuss recent cuts to rail services after receiving complaints from members of the public in Helensburgh and Lomond

The Labour MSP’s call for talks comes after Scotrail refused to bring back the express peak time services from Helensburgh Central to Glasgow this month – as revealed here – despite claiming earlier that this year that the reduced timetable during the Queen Street tunnel works would only be ‘temporary’.

This means that the popular 07:59 Helensburgh Central service and the 17:19 return service from Glasgow Queen Street, which were cancelled in March, were not reinstated following the completion of the engineering work on August 8.

The number of peak services scheduled to get Helensburgh commuters into work in Glasgow city centre for 9am and back home after 5pm have been slashed from eight to four.

Local people have also complained that the revised scheduling of the return trains from Glasgow – 5.02 and 5.31 at peak times – mean that many people have to leave work early to catch the train or wait longer in the station.

Scotrail also confirmed in a letter to Jackie Baillie that two trains will be unavailable for service each week between August and December for refurbishment.

This means that there will be fewer carriages on Helensburgh services and more overcrowding on trains which are already quite busy.

Jackie said: “People in Helensburgh and Lomond deserves much better than a second-class service from Scotrail

“ Whether it’s leaving local passengers stranded when services terminate at Dumbarton during bad weather or cancelling a Glasgow express service for the second time in two years, it’s quite clear now that local passengers are not getting a fair deal.

“The new timetable is much worse for local people, particularly those that work in Glasgow city centre, and I hope Scotrail will agree to work with me to explore ways of improving services for Helensburgh and Lomond.”