47s and other Classic Power at Southampton: Scotland in the week to 12th March 2022

Sunday 27 March 2022

Scotland in the week to 12th March 2022

On the Fife rails, there will be significant changes coming from May. Services seem to be expected to be reduced, not a surprise since weekday ridership remains low, reflected in any survey of the station parking, and the numbers on the daytime trains.

The Inverness trains will be rerouted via Stirling, which will reduce the number of HSTs through Fife. I remember when some Inverness trains started to reroute via Ladybank and Newburgh from October 1975 (I saw 25083 on one of the first workings), replaced by trains terminating at Perth. The faster trains to Arbroath seem to be expected to be curtailed to become slows from Dundee.

Fast trains to and from Aberdeen mostly no longer stop at Inverkeithing and Kirkcaldy.

The Fife Circle will no longer see effective full circular service - the linkage from Glenrothes to Kirkcaldy goes from half-hourly to one per day, almost back to the 1970 period when no passenger services ran beyond Cardenden.

The net seems to be a focus upon the services to and from Edinburgh at the expense of the Fife Circle, and other directions beyond Fife. From an enthusiast perspective, less variety, a lot of interest already lost since Covid stopped the revitalisation of the Class 68 loco hauled trains.

ScotRail confirms end of temporary train timetable and other changes ahead
ScotRail: East of Scotland

The Scottish Government takes over ScotRail from Abellio on 1st April.

Further, following the Carmont report, "ASLEF demands ORR begins the immediate process of withdrawal of HST’s from service across the entire rail network by 12th of August 2023." and "A Public Inquiry into the events at Carmont and the awarding of the franchise to Abellio with regards bringing HSTs to Scotland"

So it's time to enjoy the frequent, even back to back, HSTs whilst one can.