Plea for action to improve railway stations
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Thurso Community Council is to write to ScotRail about the current state of the town’s station after members complained about how it was being run.
The issue arose after John McLeod pointed out that tourists were arriving to locked entrance doors and toilets at both Thurso and Wick.
He said with £140 million being pumped into the Scottish railway system, he could not understand why Thurso and Wick could not receive money to carry out refurbishment work and keep the stations open for longer.
“£30m is going into the Scottish stations fund, £30m into freight investment, £60m into network improvements, £10m into level crossing funding and £10m into future developments,” he said. “This is the amount of money that is being pumped into Scottish railways and yet they can’t give these stations a new lick of paint.
“The toilets don’t open until 10am and then shut at 4.30pm – I met two holiday-makers from Orkney at the station who were welcomed with closed doors at 8.30am, they couldn’t believe it.”
Community council member Brian Potts said the reason why the stations are in a poor state is due to lack of staff.
He said more personnel were required there to help boost tourism in Caithness.
“I have had experience of going to the station and being unable to buy a ticket because there is nobody there,” he said.
“There is no co-ordination about tourism activities up here. We need some real powerful pressure to get things synchronised.”
Fellow member Thelma Mackenzie also said the lack of signage informing visitors how to get to places needed to be addressed and also pointed out the front doors should be open when the early morning and late-night trains arrive at the platform.
She said: “There is no signage to help tell visitors where to go such as taxi ranks, Scrabster or the town centre. This is something which needs improving.”
A spokeswoman for ScotRail said there are no plans for major investment at Thurso and Wick stations. But following the points raised at the community council meeting, she said the local manager is looking at whether any maintenance and repair works are required.
