Good grief, the Nightstar rises from the grave! Pity all the rolling stock was sold to Canada.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Debate!
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Posted 3 months ago #
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The commitment was to establish a working group - which has now been established.
Box ticked.
Posted 3 months ago # -
“Pity all the rolling stock was sold to Canada.“
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Thirty three partially completed "Nightstar" shells are to be scrapped in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
These are the remainder of the 139 cars imported from Britain in 2001 for conversion into the Via "Renaissance" coaches, sleepers and lounges. After the "Nightstar" stock was converted for Via use at the Bombardier (former Canadian Car) railcar plant in Thunder Bay, the 33 surplus cars were stored at the nearby Port Authority yard.
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Posted 3 months ago # -
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For two weeks in October, there will be no trains from Kirkcaldy to Inverkeithing, while Cross County and LNER services between Aberdeen and London, which stop at those stations, will also be hit.
ScotRail has said there will be replacement buses, and some services will be diverted or cancelled as major engineering works get underway on October 10, lasting until the 23rd.
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Posted 2 months ago # -
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Sensitivities over the Union Jack-style rebranding of Britain’s rail network have been laid bare by Network Rail apologising to the chief executive of Transport Scotland after she “hit the roof” at seeing it displayed at a major Glasgow station run by Scottish government-owned ScotRail, The Scotsman has learned.
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Posted 2 months ago # -
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Jenny Young, MSP for Central Scotland and Lothians West, has asked for a meeting with Transport Secretary, Stephen Flynn, to find out whether or not The Scottish Government will provide funding for a new railway station in Winchburgh this year.
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Posted 1 month ago # -
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SCOTRAIL'S minimum fare scheme has led to a major fall in ticketless travel and a significant uptick in revenue, The National can reveal.“
https://www.thenational.scot/news/26591680.scotrail-minimum-fare-scheme-raises-400-000-revenue/?
Posted 1 month ago # -
https://www.thenational.scot/news/26603153.scotrail-lothian-buses-win-big-national-transport-awards/
But no recognition of Ember and their quick and easy ticketing plus saturation of the M90 / A90 route to Aberdeen via airport? Also stopping at places neglected by long distance coaches previously.
ScotRail should have got a special mention for both their attempts to produce a mobile app. Neither allow bike booking.
Ember had that from start along with wheelchair booking. Limited space of two bikes per bus though. Peak rail fare removal was good of course and many of their trains run on time.
Bus companies often run late due to popularity of roads. Cars do too.Posted 1 month ago # -
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Mayor eyes 2050 opening date for underground trains
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Posted 1 month ago # -
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Winchburgh has grown dramatically. Thousands of families have moved into the community, new schools, businesses, leisure facilities and housing have developed and the population is rapidly approaching 14,000. Yet one important part of the original vision remains outstanding – a direct railway connection.
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Posted 1 month ago # -
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“Your journey has been delayed due to slippery rails.” That was the announcement, as it is every autumn on the railways. Apparently leaves on the line can mean train wheels losing grip, making it harder for them to stop quickly.
Which is why my 9.03pm train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh on Wednesday left the Granite City at a snail’s pace and continued in that fashion all the way south until it arrived in Waverley three hours later. Three hours to cover the 129 miles between Scotland’s capital and its third biggest city. In 2026, that is the pace of progress.
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Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Normal pace is about 2.5 hours, for comparison.
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
Which is why my 9.03pm train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh on Wednesday left the Granite City at a snail’s pace and continued in that fashion all the way south until it arrived in Waverley three hours later.
The 2103 on Wednesday was scheduled for 2:37 but late by 7 minutes at Waverley (making up time from +20 at Dundee), a longer than usual journey due to the Fife electrification works - back to normal later this month it'll be 2:24 (53mph). But why bother to explain that when you've got a column to write?Posted 2 weeks ago # -
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The closures and speed restrictions have been confirmed after the Met Office upgraded its warning for Storm Boelo from yellow to amber. The amber warning covers the majority of the country from 9pm on Saturday until 9pm on Sunday, with gusts of 60 to 70mph forecast and winds of up to 80mph possible in exposed coastal areas.
Craig Gorman, head of operational weather strategy at Network Rail Scotland, said: “We know closing lines and slowing trains will have a significant impact on people’s plans this weekend, and these aren’t decisions we take lightly. But when we’re facing weather of this scale, we have to put safety first and make sensible calls before conditions deteriorate.
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https://archive.ph/8gd2K (Herald)
Posted 2 weeks ago # -
No bikes at all allowed on the 0735 from Waverley to Perth this morning. It had no dedicated bike area, only a wheelchair/bikes area and we weren't allowed to use this because, I think, they couldn't remove the table.
There was an audax starting in Ladybank at 0900, so the next train, which also only had a wheelchair/bikes area, had about 10 cyclists on it. Most ended up standing in the vestibules, as a wheelchair user got on in Glenrothes.
It's possible that a wheelchair user had booked to use the earlier train, and fair enough that they get priority. But WHY isn't there a dedicated bike space on every train?
Posted 6 days ago # -
"Dear Scotrail
When I go to your website and say that I want to make a single journey from Waverley to Tweedbank at 0715 on a Saturday and that I have a railcard, and you tell me that the cheapest fare is £14.80 (for an Anytime Single), that's not strictly true is it?
Yes, there may be no cheaper single tickets, but what you should have told me is that it would actually be better for me to buy an Off-Peak Day Return with my Railcard, which would be £12.05."
I'm sure the old Scotrail website did that, but the new one doesn't. I stupidly assumed that (a) it was still doing it and (b) with 'same price all day' thing now in force, it didn't matter anyway. Based on the information I'd got from the website, I bought an Anytime Single from the machine at Waverley.
Doubly annoyed about this because not only did I overpay for the single I bought, but in the end I decided to take the train back from Tweedbank and forked out another £14.80 for that journey when, if I'd been correctly advised by the website I could have done the whole return trip for £12 rather than nearly £30.
Published here as a PSA in case you, like me, assume that the website is giving you good advice (which it's not).
Posted 5 days ago # -
I had the opposite experience on the slow train to Glasgow. I bought a Monthly return from Slateford to Ayr on the train and it cost me £24 avec my Old Scot card. Normally from Curriehill to Ayr Monthly return it is £24.75. Of course I came back the next day and indeed alighted at West Calder for a short spin in the lovely sunshine.
THe conductor explained a thing to me. When buying return tickets [coiuuld be the monthly one not the off peak] the cost is based on distance. So an Eskbank to Glasgow return is cheaper than an Edinburgh to Glasgow return. I am not sure why the distance being longer makes it cheaper but this is also what happened to me at Slateford I think.
He also pointed out that you can break your outward journey on these monthly returns. He said get off at Falkirk for a cuppa but ithink the ticket out gave me several days to make it to Ayr. All very strange.
Posted 4 days ago # -
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The £2 bus fare cap in the greater Glasgow area could cost ScotRail as much as £20 million, MSPs have been told, as passengers jump from train journeys.
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Posted 1 day ago # -
@gembo
Certain tickets (like off-peak return) aren't available anymore between Edinburgh and other mainline stations like Stirling or Glasgow. The "Eskbank hack" allows you to get these tickets.
This is because the rail regulator wants a Ryanair Railway where all seats are sold in advance for specific trains but this doesn't really match how people use the railway, particularly when using regional services which either don't have booked seats or don't have advance tickets available between intermediate stations.
Posted 1 day ago # -
Worth noting that the original Eskbank Hack doesn't work for Edinburgh-Glasgow travel now, as the only return tickets sold are Anytime, and not Anytime Day, meaning Eskbank to Glasgow costs more.
Posted 1 day ago # -
Boo! That's rubbish.
Must admit I'm not certain that it's still possible to Stirling anymore either as Ember has filled the role that the train did, at least for winter outings (going Edinburgh->Callander fairly often, which is nice as train + cycle but a bit of trek train+bus).
Posted 1 day ago #
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