A new rail ‘temporary timetable’ introduced last week has been labelled as a “complete travesty” for passengers in Dunblane.
The timetable was brought in by ScotRail in response to a driver shortage prompted by an ongoing dispute over pay, with almost 700 train services across Scotland cut back as a result.
The weekend also saw more than 300 trains cancelled across the ScotRail network due to the impact of the driver shortage.
The impact is being keenly felt at stations along the Stirling line, including in Dunblane where only four services will now stop after 7pm - with only one train from Glasgow calling at the station after that point.
Dunblane Community Council chairman David Prescott labelled the latest changes as “pretty disappointing” and said people in the town may be forced to look elsewhere for other forms of travel if the current timetable remained in place.
Mr Prescott said: “The latest timetable is a complete travesty; we’ve not lost a third of the trains as ScotRail state is the national position, but we only have a third of our trains running now.
“There is now no effective service to Glasgow and if this is to last for most of the year, then a good few people simply won’t be travelling by train and the railway will cease to offer any of value in Dunblane.
“It feels as if there have been wholesale cuts made with no thought about how people travel.
“It’s an emergency timetable but if this is a long-term timetable lasting months, I expect ScotRail to come back with a significantly improved timetable very quickly because as it stands the service is substantially unusable for many people’s journeys.
“We’re now paying for services that are unusable for people’s requirements in the town.
“The planned timetable was already a step down from the pre-Covid timetable so was already worse. It feels as if the travel needs of people in Dunblane have been totally ignored and left out.”
A revised pay offer of 4.2 per cent was made by ScotRail to the drivers’ union Aslef last week, with drivers now being asked to vote on the offer following a consultation.
The reduction of services through Dunblane has also been raised in Holyrood this week, with Green MSP Mark Ruskell urging Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth to ensure that no community was disproportionately impacted by the new timetable.
In her response, Ms Gilruth said the matter has been raised with ScotRail with hopes that some services would be restored “in a matter of days”,
Mr Ruskell said: “Communities in Dunblane – and others affected by this temporary timetable – will be glad to hear that key services may be restored in a matter of days. I look forward to hearing more from the minister about how ScotRail plans to reinstate services, particularly in rural areas like Dunblane and Perthshire, who have been left completely isolated by these changes.”
“The current dispute is a result of years of unsustainable and unfair working practices across the whole rail industry in the UK, and clearly nationalising ScotRail cannot resolve these issues overnight.
“But for now, I encourage ScotRail and Aslef to redouble efforts to find a fair settlement for workers that reflects the cost of living crisis.”
