ScotRail confirm more seats on local services

Senior management at ScotRail have confirmed that additional class 156 trains will be provided on the East Kilbride line from May 2019 and carriages will be increased from four to six for on peak services with a total number of 436 seats for passengers.

ScotRail has also confirmed that there will be an increased number of class 156 trains on the Barrhead route and that a larger number of trains will have four carriages containing a total of 284 seats on morning and evening services.

Eastwood MSP Jackson Carlaw has previously made representations to ScotRail both by letter and in person regarding overcrowding on the East Kilbride line and the lack of an appropriate number of carriages to accommodate passenger demand.

East Renfrewshire MP Paul Masterton had also written to ScotRail calling for an improvement to local train services and for additional carriages to be provided on the East Kilbride and Barrhead train routes.

And Eastwood MSYPs Jack Dudgeon, Katie Leslie and Fatima Bari have been campaigning for an increase in the number of carriages on the Glasgow to East Kilbride line.

The Glasgow to East Kilbride train route service stops at Thornliebank, Giffnock, Clarkston and Busby stations in Mr Carlaw’s Eastwood and Mr Masterton’s East Renfrewshire constituency.

Jackson Carlaw MSP said:“Lack of capacity and overcrowding on ScotRail trains is a frequent problem experienced by many of my constituents who are passengers on services stopping at Thornliebank, Giffnock, Clarkston and Busby stations.

“I have made representations to ScotRail regarding the number of carriages provided on the East Kilbride line and I am pleased to receive confirmation from senior management that the majority of trains on this service will now have six carriages at peak times.

“Train services across Scotland have been underperforming in recent times with cancellations and delays impacting negatively on passengers.

“The additional carriages for services on the East Kilbride route is a welcome development.

“I hope this will serve to improve the capacity and overcrowding problems experienced by train users in Eastwood.”

Paul Masterton MP added: “Train delays and cancellations are frequently brought to my attention by constituents in East Renfrewshire.

“I have previously written to ScotRail about local train services and to seek improvements for passengers.

“Confirmation that the number of carriages on Barrhead and East Kilbride train services are being increased is a very positive development and hopefully will lead to an improvement in performance.

“Both Jackson and I will continue to closely monitor the impact of local train services on the day-to-day lives of our constituents.”

Eastwood MSYPs Jack Dudgeon, Katie Leslie and Fatima Bari added: “We are delighted that ScotRail will be introducing additional carriages on East Kilbride to Glasgow train services.

“Young people in Eastwood constantly tell us that more capacity on this line is something they want to see and we have been campaigning for this since we were elected in 2017. We look forward to the additional carriages being introduced.”

Bill Reeve, Transport Scotland’s director of rail,said: “From May, this will enable all peak services on the East Kilbride route to operate as six-cars and more four-cars to run on the Barrhead line allowing more passengers to choose rail travel.”

“This is the first step of improvements for this route and is just one example of how we are alleviating over-crowding on our trains.

“As more new trains enter the fleet to free up existing rolling stock, we will be able to roll out similar steps on other routes up and down the country.”