Advertising Trains

FoFNL is grateful/proud to be one of a number of organisations considered to be "critical friends" by ScotRail/Scotland's Railway and by Transport Scotland.

In that spirit, I would like to make a further plea for the restoration of up to date timetable posters at stations.

I asked about this at the FoFNL AGM in Helmsdale last summer. Chris Gibb, immediate past CEO of Scottish Rail Holdings talked about the many copies of pocket timetables which went to waste. We understood all that, but my point was not answered.

Despite the power of advertising, ScotRail's information vacuum continues and revenue is lost. Many folk do not have electronic gadgets and others would not go to the length of using the platform help point if they even know it exists.

Consider tourists stopping at Achnasheen for the toilets. If they could see a timetable on display they might be tempted to make a spur of the moment train trip to Kyle to walk over the bridge to Skye and know they could get back at a convenient time. No timetable? No extra passengers that day.

Many folk are disappointed that they cannot just go and check the train times at the station and work out all the possibilities for themselves.

Matlock even had two timetables - current and future, the latter starting a fortnight after I was there in early May. ScotRail please copy!

Richard Ardern, Inverness