There was good and bad news about the rail services to and from Broughty Ferry station earlier this week. Would you like the good or bad news first?
Last September, I welcomed the announcement about improvements to the schedule of trains that were to be stopping at Broughty Ferry Station when the then new national rail timetable was coming into force on Sunday 11 December 2011. This included four more trains a day going south and three more trains a day heading north. These improvements were introduced on a pilot basis to be evaluated in 2012.
The good news is that from Sunday 9 December 2012, one further train a day will stop at Broughty Ferry in both directions. This afternoon service will help fill one of the gaps in the current timetable.
The bad news is that ScotlRail will not be delivering an hourly timetable of stopping trains at Broughty Ferry on the Aberdeen to Glasgow and Glasgow to Aberdeen route. There will continue to be long gaps between services and it will remain difficult, if not impossible to commute into Dundee from The Ferry unless you have unusual working hours.
I have been saving this for last. The best news is most definitely that the pilot programme of improved stopping trains at Broughty Ferry has been judged a success on the basis of growing passenger numbers. So our rail services in The Ferry are no longer a pilot programme. In other words, we are no longer under threat of returning to a station with virtually no train services. For that we have to thank all those passengers who have voted with their feet and let the train take the strain.
Finally, I shall continue to press for a comprehensive timetable of stopping trains at our station. This makes sense environmentally and practically.
