Scotrail urged to backtrack on ‘ridiculous’ Helensburgh timetable changes

ScotRail have been urged to reverse timetable changes which saw express trains serving Helensburgh Central cut last month.

A meeting heard this week heard that it wasn’t just peak time commuters who were affected by the changes after a ‘temporary’ timetable during work on the Queen Street tunnel in Glasgow was made permanent.

Cllr Robert MacIntyre, Argyll and Bute’s representative on Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, said that people using concession tickets, which offer extra discounts after 9am were also affected.

Previously a train left Helensburgh Central at 9.10am, he said, but this service has no been moved forward to 8.53, with the first train eligible for concessions not leaving until 9.26.

“This is wrong, it is the train service not considering the people of Helensburgh,” he told Cove and Kilcreggan Community Council.

“That is ridiculous and I’ve asked them to look at it again and see if there is no way they can reinstate the train just after 9am.”

A ScotRail spokeswoman gave little encouragement for those wanting changes however.

“It is clear that any change to train times or services can impact on a small number of passengers when a service currently meets their individual travel requirements.,” she said.

“We recognise that any timetable changes may work better for some than others but we’re confident that this new timetable, which includes a regular half-hourly service for Helensburgh Central customers, will deliver an overall better service for the vast majority our customers.”

She said that the company’s timetable planning team has focussed on ensuring a robust and reliable timetable, ‘not only on the North Clyde services, but right across the central belt’ including a permanent all-day service between Airdrie and Balloch as well as two trains an hour between Dumbarton and Cumbernauld.