10:38 Inverness to Wick due 14:56

This train is being delayed at Helmsdale by 70 minutes and is expected to be delayed at Georgemas Junction by 50 minutes.

This train will no longer call at Georgemas Junction (from Inverness at 14:14) and Thurso.

This is due to congestion.

Last Updated :16/01/2016 14:25

16:00 Wick to Inverness due 20:10

This train will be starting late from Wick by 30 minutes and is expected to be 10 minutes late at Georgemas Junction.

This train will no longer call at Georgemas Junction (from Wick at 16:18) and Thurso.

This is due to congestion.

Last Updated :16/01/2016 14:25

This scenario from Saturday 16 January is quite a common occurrence because of the capacity constraints of our 160 mile long single track line. The Controller has had to make a decision to let one train run on time and seriously delay one going in the opposite direction. The 12:34 from Wick is running on time and passengers have connections to make at Inverness. The northbound 10:38 is only 18 minutes late, but will have to sit at Helmsdale for a further 54 minutes before it can proceed the 24 miles on to the next loop at Forsinard. This is the longest single track section in Britain and trains are timed to take 34 minutes over it.

25 minutes can be saved if it omits its usual trundle down the Thurso branch from and back to Georgemas Junction before going on to Wick. Passengers are bussed to Thurso and the train might have reached Wick around 15:45 now some 48 minutes late. It is due to form the 16:00 back to Inverness.

The crew need a break as this is the long 10 hour shift from Inverness. The driver will have spent more than 5 hours in his small cabin. The official maximum is 4 hours 30 min. The Controller will have asked if the crew (driver, conductor and trolley attendant) would forgo part of their hour long break to allow the train to start again at 16:30. By missing out Thurso once again, it can be away from Georgemas only about 5 minutes late and hopefully get to Inverness in time for the 5 minute connection with the last train to Glasgow at 20:15. On a Saturday there is no Caledonian Sleeper connection to make.

All this shows that the deceleration of services by nearly 30 minutes since 10 years ago has made this long line tremendously difficult to operate. This situation at Helmsdale, where a train about 15 minutes late is made to wait nearly another hour to complete its journey is mirrored in the south at Muir of Ord. The solution there is to reinstate the loop at Lentran half way between Muir and Inverness and FoFNL is campaigning vigorously for this.

The solution further north is similar. Reinstate the loop at Kinbrace. Hopefully this might be achieved in conjunction with the current project to install timber sidings at Kinbrace. A decision is urgent because the RETB radio signalling is being reconfigured this summer. It is essential that the new RETB does not prevent enhancements to the line such as this. The latest figures show that after many years of growth, passengers have been put off travelling due to too many delays and cancellations during the last two years. Action is needed now to make the line more reliable and speedier.

This is being tackled in two ways. A task force in Inverness is now monitoring train performance on the FNL daily and, although it is early days, it would seem that service reliability and punctuality is starting to improve. Another working group, convened by Network Rail in Glasgow, has drawn up a list of over 20 enhancements which might be made. Many are small, saving literally seconds here and there, but the Lentran loop is certainly on that list and we hope that Kinbrace loop will also progress.

Community activists in Evanton have been calling for the reopening of their station. This has been brought about by a serious reduction in the bus services serving the village. On the present timetable it would seem that about 5 trains per day could call there but some of the Wick services could not. Certainly the commuters to and from Inverness could be served. Speeding up the line might create other timetabling opportunities. It would be particularly good if Highland Council would include helping to fund the Lentran Loop in their City and Region Deal projects.

The latest passenger figures for the line covering April 2014 to March 2015 were released in December. After years of steady and significant growth, numbers were down. While figures for Wick and Thurso were only marginally lower, the big worry was the decline of between 12 and 14% at the commuter towns of Tain, Invergordon and Dingwall. This suggests that the reliability problems over the last two years have lost the railway some of its regular users. Another factor might have been the completion of the two years of road works on the A9 Kessock Bridge with some commuters going back to road transport. We do not have any more recent figures to be able to tell if passenger numbers have stabilised again. We certainly hope so.