TRAINS to Helensburgh Central missed out scheduled stops on their route 139 times last year, according to figures obtained by Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer.
The number is an increase of 79 per cent on the 2018 figure, when stops on the route were missed 78 times – despite a pledge by ScotRail to eliminate the practice, introduced in a bid to enable late-running trains to catch up on their timetable, as far as possible.
The number refers only to trains heading towards Helensburgh Central; data for trains heading east, towards Glasgow and Edinburgh, is not available.
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The data obtained by the Greens shows that ScotRail trains missed station stops – a practice known as ‘stop-skipping’ – 2,660 times last year, an increase of more than 500 on 2018.
Mr Greer said: “In Helensburgh people rely on rail services for work, education, and so much more, and it is simply unacceptable that this not only keeps happening but is getting worse after ScotRail told us it had ended.
“It isn’t unreasonable to expect that your train calls at all the stations advertised. Everyone accepts that delays and cancellations will happen from time to time on a busy network, but we only need to look at other European countries to see how poor the UK’s rail network is by comparison.
“With the climate emergency only getting worse, we need to encourage more people out of their cars and on to public transport. Higher fares for a worse service aren’t the way to do that.”
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A ScotRail spokesperson said: “Missing out stations is never done to meet targets or for financial gain. If a train fails to stop at a scheduled station then it automatically fails to meet our very challenging targets.
“We completely understand that this doesn’t make it any less frustrating for our customers when it happens and we do everything we can to minimise services or stops being cancelled.
“It’s a very rare occurrence for a train to miss a stop, and is only done as a last resort measure to limit knock-on disruption to customers across the wider network.
“Compensation is available for customers who are delayed by 30 minutes or more as a result of a missed stop or cancellation.”
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