Wednesday December 4th 2019
Eskbank station
Local MSP Christine Grahame has cautiously welcomed news that ScotRail will be adding 1,500 seats throughout the day to Borders Railway from 15th December as part of a nation-wide timetable overhaul.
The changes will include the 0726 and 0759 services from Tweedbank to South Gyle running with six carriages rather than three and fewer services running with only two carriages on weekdays – seven will remain at this size compared to thirteen in the current timetable.
Ms Grahame, SNP MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, said:
“I’m happy to see capacity increasing on Borders Railway as overcrowding, particularly at rush hour, has been a real issue for my constituents. Indeed, earlier this year I had Alex Hynes, CEO of ScotRail, accompany me at my invitation on a rush hour service to see for himself the issues commuters faced.
“The Borders Railway continues to far exceed the passenger numbers predicted and planned for when it opened in 2015 – in that sense it is a great success, but it’s important the service continues to be adapted to provide a reliable and useable service for passengers and to ensure it continues to be an asset to the area in future.
“Time will tell how successful these changes are in alleviating overcrowding and I’ll continue to keep an eye to this. In the interim I have already written to ScotRail to ask what measures are in place to support increased passenger numbers on the service over the festive period.”
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