Train passengers “are losing faith” in the region’s rail service due to ongoing disruptions, cancellations and bus replacements on a daily basis.
At a time when more people are dependent on public transport due to rising fuel prices, they have been let down repeatedly by the unreliable service provided by TransPennine Express.
Politicians this week revealed that they have been inundated with complaints from commuters and other members of the public, particularly around the dismal service at Lockerbie station.
South of Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said: “Passengers from Lockerbie have always been treated as second class from the moment this UK government handed TransPennine Express the franchise for this route but things have gone from awful to even worse.
“More and more local passengers are telling me they just don’t use the train any more because it is so unreliable. It’s not uncommon for more than half the services from Lockerbie to be cancelled on a daily basis.
“I am pleased that the company listened to my calls to work with Avanti Westcoast to urge them to make unscheduled stops at Lockerbie on their Edinburgh services when TransPennine ones are cancelled but that isn’t a long term solution.”
He added: “At a time we should be seeing services increase at Lockerbie, the reality is we are seeing fewer and that’s because passengers are losing faith.”
Speaking during a recent debate in the House of Commons on the rail strikes, Dumfriesshire MP David Mundell set out the disruption which has been faced for months by local people using the West Coast Main Line.
He said: “Constituents of mine travel to hospital appointments on these services. They sometimes have to travel 40 miles to get to the station, only to find that the train has been cancelled at the last minute and they cannot get to a cancer appointment in
Edinburgh.
“They cannot carry out the normal activities that people would want in terms of shopping and leisure, and they cannot carry out their work and it is totally and utterly unacceptable, and it has gone on for months.”
Mr Mundell called for trade unions and employers to get back around the negotiating table and hammer out a deal which stops damaging industrial action now affecting rail passengers.
A spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: “We are sorry for the ongoing disruption impacting customers across our network, including those at Lockerbie.
“A combination of increased levels of staff sickness, industrial relations issues as well as a training backlog following the pandemic, have meant we have had to unfortunately cancel some services at short-notice over recent months, and we understand this is frustrating for those that rely on our trains.
“We are doing all we can to resolve these issues and are working to develop a number of solutions to lessen the impact for customers and to deliver a more robust, reliable and stable service.
TransPennine yesterday cancelled three trains out of Lockerbie Station.
