A train that runs through some of Scotland’s most celebrated Highland scenery has been labelled the “polar express” because it is so cold onboard that travellers bring extra clothing for the journey.
Passengers who use the West Highland line service between Oban and Glasgow believe temperatures in its carriages regularly plunge below zero, forcing regular users to bring extra insulated coats, gloves, furry hats and scarves.
Travellers told BBC Scotland that locals had nicknamed it in ironic reference to the animated Tom Hanks movie The Polar Express, about a mysterious train bound for the north pole.
Ann McLachlan, from Taynuilt, a village on the line east of Oban, said she and her husband, Terry Halcrow, took a “dangerously cold” journey on 18 January when the outside temperature was -10.4C (13.28F).
She told BBC Scotland Halcrow was wearing several layers of clothing and had been hunched over in an effort to remain warm. “Terry is a Shetland islander, he’s worked in the North Sea, he’s used to the cold, but he was absolutely frozen,” she said.
“Imagine instead of him that was a man or woman with a young child, or a frail elderly person. When we complained, ScotRail said they were sorry it hadn’t been an enjoyable experience – but this wasn’t a quality issue, it’s a health and safety issue.”
ScotRail, the nationalised company that runs most services in Scotland, said the Class 156 trains, most of which were built in the 1980s, used excess heat from their diesel engines to heat up carriages.
David Lister, the company’s safety, engineering and sustainability director, said that meant heating up the first services of the day could be “very challenging”. ScotRail is working on “longer-term solutions and funding options which could improve onboard temperatures for our passengers”, he said.
However, Neil McInroy, from Oban, said the freezing temperatures on the service were routine and not confined to the first of the day. “I’ve been on that train if I’ve been going away for the weekend, and I’ve had to put on all the contents of my bag, hats, jackets, jumpers, the lot.
“It’s a three-hour journey, you’re often on it for longer due to delays, and if it’s a cold carriage, that’s horrible. It’s pretty Baltic.”
He said he had met one couple in their 70s who said they were freezing; there was no trolley service on their train, so they were unable to warm up even with a mug of tea. “It wouldn’t be a nice start to their holiday. Oban is a gateway to the Highlands and the islands. It’s a really poor advert for Scotland,” he said.
Iain Cameron – an expert in Scottish snow cover who monitors the dwindling of the country’s last remaining snow patch, known as the Sphinx, each summer – said the same problem affected ScotRail trains through the Cairngorms and southern Highlands.
He said he had spent three hours freezing on the 07.43 from Stirling to Inverness in mid-January. “It was a sub-zero morning, but nothing out of the ordinary for mid-January. Luckily, I had my big down jacket on, but even this wasn’t enough,” he said.
“When you sit for three hours it’s very hard to get warm, regardless of how warm your jacket is. All the passengers on my carriage were wrapped up. One poor woman looked freezing, constantly rubbing her hands between Perth and Aviemore.”
