Welcome for Sunday Trains Serving Broughty Ferry from 9 December 2012

I welcome the latest announcement from Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (TACTRAN) and First ScotRail that a Sunday service is to be introduced in the new timetable at Broughty Ferry Station beginning on Sunday 9 December.

Currently no services call at Broughty Ferry on Sunday and this will increase to 7 calls as follows:

Northbound

09:37 Glasgow - Aberdeen service will call at Broughty Ferry at 11:18

16:05 Edinburgh - Aberdeen service will call at Broughty Ferry at 17:28

21:00 Edinburgh - Aberdeen service will call at Broughty Ferry at 22:28

Southbound

09:24 Aberdeen - Glasgow service will call at Broughty Ferry at 10:34

12:47 Aberdeen - Edinburgh service will call at Broughty Ferry at 14:00

19:07 Aberdeen - Edinburgh service will call at Broughty Ferry at 20:13

22:27 Aberdeen - Perth  service will call at Broughty Ferry at 23:38

This announcement follows confirmation in September that Broughty Ferry Station is to receive an increase of 2 additional calls from Monday to Saturday with effect from December 2012.

I have written to TACTRAN to request the reissuing of an updated timetable for Broughty Ferry Train Services to coincide with the new timetable beginning on Sunday 9 December 2012.

I shall continue to press for a regular hourly train service on Northbound and Southbound trains from Broughty Ferry station. This will be more convenient and predictable for rail travellers and good for the environment. I will also continue to campaign for Fair Fares for local rail users. 

Fair Fares Please for Broughty Ferry Trains

Recent publicity about the Tay Train Tax has highlighted the complexity and unfairness of the train fares from Dundee to Glasgow and Edinburgh. But there are some other unjustified differences in local train fares. 

As a Ferry Councillor, I am concerned about complaints from rail passengers from Broughty Ferry who report other unjustified and unfair anomalies.

One I double checked on Scotrail's website earlier this week is the difference in the cost of an advanced single taking the 16:03 Aberdeen train either to Dundee or Broughty Ferry. As the journey south as far as The Ferry is slightly shorter, one might expect the fare would be a bit less or the same cost. It was disappointing to find that the slightly shorter train journey on the same train service is significantly more expensive.
Advance Single specified train only 16:03 Aberdeen - Dundee             £ 6.60
Advance Single specified train only 16:03 Aberdeen - Broughty Ferry £10:80

The £4:20 difference is clearly unfair and unjustified.
Of course the savvy train traveller who regularly uses this route will be inclined to buy a ticket to Dundee and just alight one stop early. This may however have the effect of not crediting Broughty Ferry with a passenger whose journey accrues to Dundee instead.

I would be interested to hear from passengers about any other such pricing issues on train fares to and from Broughty Ferry.
laurie.bidwell@dundeecity.gov.uk

In the meanwhile, I have written to Scotrail to ask that they add this to the list of issues about fares to be sorted out. If they are really serious about building up the volume of passengers using the trains directly to and from Broughty Ferry they will need to fix differential fares like this. Fair's Fare!

Good and Bad News from Scotrail for Train Services from Broughty Ferry Station

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.

More Trains Stopping at Broughty Ferry Station Please ScotRail

On Monday I was notified by Broughty Ferry Community Council that John Yellowlees, the External Relations Manager at ScotRail, will be attending their meeting on the evening of Tuesday 6 November. Apparently, one of the items he will be covering will be the new timetable for Broughty Ferry begining in early December.

I understand passengers number using trains to and from Broughty Ferry have risen significantly since the  increase in the number of stopping trains on the timetable that came into force from 12 December 2011. 

What would make a significant boost to passengers number is the development of a consistent hourly service to Glasgow and Aberdeen with changes in Dundee for services to Edinburgh. This would not only be more predictable for the travelling public, but good for ScotRail revenues and kinder to the environment.

I hope John Yellowtrees won't be coming empty handed to The Ferry.  We could do with some good news about more stopping trains at our station on new timetable coming into force a couple of weeks before Christmas.

Folk in Broughty Ferry deserve a regular train service to match the improvements on the platform such as the digital information screens.

We also need a regular and frequent train service between Dundee and The Ferry so that, when the V and A opens in 2015, visitors can easily extend their visit from the water front site in Dundee to the centre of Broughty Ferry.

Customer Information Screens Go Live at Broughty Ferry Station

I am delighted to be advised the installation of Customer Information Screens at Broughty Ferry Station has been completed with the system going live earlier today.  I am sure passengers will really appreciate this. In an unstaffed station, up to the minute information about train services provides reassurance that your train is on its way.

The installation of the Customer Information Screens has been jointly funded by Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership and ScotRail. This supports the Broughty Ferry rail service enhancements introduced with the December 2011 rail timetable. 

I corresponded with the Managing Director of SCOTRAIL and Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership about this, so it is gratifying to see that they have responded so positively.

I hope when the enhanced rail service is reviewed, later this year, more stopping services will be added to our timetable so that we have a regular hourly service from Broughty Ferry to Aberdeen and Glasgow with connections in Dundee to Edinburgh.

Broughty Station Improvements - New Access to Down Platform Open

The new access to the 'down' Platform (for trains to Dundee) at Broughty Ferry Station was opened recently. This replaces the previous historic access, which will now form part of the restaurant premises under conversion adjacent to the station platform.


While this development is welcomed, I hope the link between the pavement on the roadside and the new pathway to the platform will be improved. The new tarmac infill (see picture) and the differences in levels are a bit like a hole on a crazy golf course. I hope this is a temporary job and a more elegant design solution will be engineered. This should meet the new access standards for people with mobility difficulties as well as look more pleasing.

I have written to the City Engineer to demand a better solution to the connection between the pavement (City Council's responsibility) and the Platform (Scotrail's responsibility).

Beginning Today Timetable of Additional Trains Running to and from Broughty Ferry - Monday 12 December 2011

Broughty Ferry Station

New Timetable

Beginning
Monday 12 December 2011

(Monday to Saturday unless otherwise specified)

Northbound Trains

06:31 to Inverurie

09:45 to Inverurie

11:07 to Aberdeen

15:09 to Aberdeen

17:47 to Inverurie

19:00 to Carnoustie

23:10 to Aberdeen

Southbound Trains

06:29 to Dundee

07:41 to Glasgow

10:43 to Glasgow

15:09 to Edinburgh

17:11 to Edinburgh

23:38 to Perth (Monday to Thursday)

00:33 to Perth (Friday Only)
Read or Download Special Timetable of Broughty Ferry Trains

Broughty Ferry Train Timetable from 12 December 2011 - 8 December 2012

Click on this image to read or download
Broughty train times.

The new timetable for the improved train services from Broughty Ferry begins on Monday 12 December 2011. 


A handy separate leaflet for services to and from Broughty Ferry has been helpfully produced by TACTRAN and SCOTRAIL. 


This is an improved set of services that provide more through and connecting trains between Broughty Ferry and Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth.


Click on this link to read or download the new separate timetable for trains to and from Broughty Ferry: 12 December 2011 -  8 December 2012.

Developments at Broughty Ferry Station

I am pleased to see that work has started at our station in Broughty Ferry to convert the station house and platform buildings into a restaurant. It's good to see that there is now confidence by Scotrail to go ahead and undertake the conversion work which was granted planning permission some while ago. I hope this will help Scotrail find a restaurateur willing to take on the lease.

From Monday 5 December the pedestrian underpass will be closed until Christmas while work is undertaken near the level crossing to create a new access point to the down platform (trains to Dundee). 


This is very poor timing for traders in The Ferry. It's also a pity that while all this improvement work is going on that the smelly and grubby underpass is not being updated. I have written to the  Council's Head of Transportation to see whether a deep clean can be done before the underpass is reopened.  I would also hope we improve the 'walk the plank' experience along the suspended walkway just above the bottom of the tunnel which is prone to flooding. It's a bit of a Heath Robinson and would hardly pass current standards of health and safety. I think it would be much better if the suspended walkway covered the full width of the tunnel bottom.

While the the pedestrian underpass is closed, I hope pedestrians will be patient while they wait at the level crossing gates and no one ignores the warming lights flashing and the barriers beginning to fall. Most non stopping rains race through the Ferry at 80 mph.

Earlier in the Autumn, I wrote to the Scotrail Managing Director, Scott Montgomery, to request improvements to the information available about trains and the timetable to be on both the platforms. I can report some good and bad news. Firstly, the good news is that he has confirmed that: 

"we will arrange for a timetable to be displayed on both platforms at Broughty Ferry (this has been taken up with the local Manager at Dundee)" 

At the moment there is no train timetable displayed on the Up platform for trains towards Aberdeen. The bad news is that he also says that: 

"regrettably we have no plans at the present to install Customer Information Screens at this station. .... Although it is recognised that the station would benefit from these Screens, funding for station improvements is limited and we have to prioritise the stations."

I have also written to Steve Mongomery to find out where Broughty Ferry is on the Scotrail waiting list and to TACTRAN to urge they support this improvement.

New Trains Services Calling at Broughty Ferry - Call for Improvements to Broughty Ferry Station

I welcome the recent announcement about improvements to the schedule of trains that will stop at Broughty Ferry Station when the new rail national timetable comes into force on Sunday 11 December. This includes four more trains a day going south and three more trains a day heading north.

I regret however that First Scot Rail have not comprehensively implemented what the Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (Tactran) recommended in their Tay Estuary Rail Study. A regular hourly timetable of services would have meant that potential rail users would have got the hang of the services that connected Broughty Ferry with Dundee and  heading north to stations towards Aberdeen. As it is, we will have trains with long gaps between services. For example, if you miss the 11:07 train to Aberdeen you will have a four hour gap until the 16:09 pulls in. Similarly, if you miss the O7:41 train to Glasgow, you would have to wait for the 10:43 train.

While there will be some more trains stopping, I have not heard about any plans for enhancing passenger information at the station. I have written to Scotrail to demand improvements in two ways. Firstly to make provision for at least a poster of the train timetable to be displayed on the up platform. Secondly, in an unstaffed station, it would be helpful and reassuring if there were a electronic display showing the upcoming arrivals and whether they are running late or are cancelled.

Imagine standing on the down platform on a Friday night waiting for the last train south (towards Dundee which runs on to Perth) due at just after half past midnight (00:33). This is a potentially useful service because the last bus for Dundee would have left hours before. It could be a lonely and worrying wait. The last train heading north towards Aberdeen would have stopped on the opposite platform more than an hour before so it’s pretty certain that there would not be any folk waiting or alighting on the other platform. So as you wait you are bound to wonder whether you have missed the train. Maybe your watch is running slow? It is only when the level crossing barrier drops that you are reassured that a train is on its way.

If an electronic display can be mounted in a bus shelter in the city to provide live updates on bus services, surely the equivalent should be supplied in our station?

Finally, the new services are, we have been warned, not a permanent fixture so it's either use it or we lose it."

Timetable of Trains running from Broughty Ferry
from Monday 12 December 2011
(Monday to Saturday unless otherwise specified)

Northbound Trains

06:31 to Inverurie

09:45 to Inverurie

11:07 to Aberdeen

15:09 to Aberdeen

17:47 to Inverurie (Existing Service)

19:00 to Carnoustie (Existing Service)

23:10 to Aberdeen

Southbound Trains

06:29 to Dundee (Existing Service)

07:41 to Glasgow

10:43 to Glasgow (Existing Service)

15:09 to Edinburgh

17:11 to Edinburgh

23:38 to Perth (Monday to Thursday)

00:33 to Perth (Friday Only)