Letter to The Editor

Unlike John Melling I do not welcome the new summer timetable. Previously all trains from Wick or Kyle to Inverness had connections for Glasgow and Edinburgh, but now the last train from Wick to Edinburgh is the 1210. The 2013 from Inverness to Glasgow still connects with the 1616 from Wick and the 1718 from Kyle but it arrives in Stirling at 2306 and the last train from Stirling to Edinburgh is at 2303. As a result of this incredibly bad scheduling the last train from Wick to Edinburgh is the 1210.

I am absolutely disgusted with the fare structure on the seating accommodation on the night trains. It costs more to travel from Inverness (or Stirling for that matter) to Blackpool or Liverpool or Manchester Airport than it costs to London! And the fare from Edinburgh or Glasgow to London is less than the fare from Inverness or Stirling to Preston or Crewe! It is time we had a much better fare structure for travel between northern Scotland and northern England.

Finally, passengers travelling from Inverness to Glasgow on a Sunday morning have to wait an hour for a connection at Stirling. Previously, one could get a good connection for Glasgow by changing at Falkirk Grahamston. But there are no longer any Sunday trains from Falkirk Grahamston to Glasgow so an unacceptably long wait at Stirling is necessary.

Yours sincerely
David Gallant.