ScotRail ‘crew shortage’ cancellations on Highland lines spark concerns from business leaders
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Crew shortages which have bedevilled railway lines in the Highlands over the Easter break could not have come at a worse time for the region’s businesses, industry leaders have warned.
Commuters and tourists on the Far North and Highland Mainlines were hit by a string of cancellations and bus replacement services last week, with most of them cited by ScotRail as being due to “a shortage of train crew”.
Affected journeys have more than once included the 8.02am Wick to Inverness service and the 2pm Inverness to Wick ‘return’, which uses the same train. The 10.41am Inverness-Wick and 4pm Wick-Inverness return were also cancelled on Thursday.
Passengers on the Highland mainline have also not been unaffected, with a number of early morning trains in or out of Inverness on Friday either starting or terminating at Perth instead. These included the 5.36am Inverness to Glasgow, 8.43am Inverness to Glasgow and the 10.07am Glasgow to Inverness. The 4.54am Inverness to Edinburgh service, which goes via Aberdeen, was also started in the Granite City rather than the Highland Capital - with “crew shortage” again cited as the cause.
The disruption continued into the weekend and beyond with the 6.47am Kingussie to Inverness train on Saturday, and today’s (Monday) 12.34pm Wick-Inverness and 6.31pm Inverness-Wick journeys also cancelled due to "a shortage of train crew".
The timing of the disruption coincided with the two-week Easter school holiday and informal start of the tourist season.
And with only four train services travelling the full length of the Far North Line each way per day on weekdays, the spate of cancellations at the start of the tourist season has not gone unnoticed by business leaders, who warn it risks harming the region’s reputation.
The Federation of Small Businesses’ David Richardson, who is the organisation’s development manager for the Highlands and Islands, said soft winter trade, rising costs, and awful Easter holiday weather were already causing enough issues for businesses, without multiple rail cancellations causing travel headaches for tourists heading into and around the Highlands at the start of the season.
“At this time of year, the start of the season - and I know businesses have had a slow winter. High Streets have not had a good year nationally and costs are high and there are staffing shortages - we can't afford to have customers wanting to spend money in the region that are unable to get here.
“We must move heaven and earth to make sure they can travel easily.
“We must ensure those who can afford to come, can come, and anything that threatens that [is not ideal],” he added, saying that bad weather was already acting as a deterrent to travel without throwing other potential barriers in the way.”
His concerns were also echoed by the Inverness Chamber of Commerce, whose chief executive Colin Marr warned the disruption risked damaging the region’s reputation, and might deter tourist and business travellers alike.
“We live in a region which is poorly served by both road and rail transport compared to the rest of Scotland, with far longer journey times per mile than are enjoyed elsewhere,” he said. “For the rail service to be unreliable because of crew shortages is making that situation worse.
“We’re just at the point where the tourist season is ramping up and this won’t help our reputation but its also important for the business community who may have missed meetings and lost business because of these cancellation, and who may well turn to road travel for their next journey as a result.”
Responding to the situation and concerns, Phil Campbell, ScotRail’s customer operations director, said: “We are sorry to customers who have experienced disruption to their journey.
“Anyone delayed by 30 minutes or more is entitled to compensation though our Delay Repay Guarantee. Just keep hold of your tickets and claim on the ScotRail website or mobile app.”
ScotRail added that it is running replacement buses for affected services, and ticket acceptance with Stagecoach North buses as well when required.
