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Meeting of the Parliament 23 February 2012

23 Feb 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Rail Services (Consultation)

Doris, Bob SNP Glasgow Watch on SPTV

I must say at the outset, for absolute clarity, that, given the process that surrounds consultations, the transport minister could not have been clearer that the Scottish Government has no plans to close any station. I look forward to that being confirmed once the Government has considered the consultation responses. I will be interested to know what various organisations have said about station closures once the responses become publicly available.

People have been concerned about train stations, and the Evening Times has played an important role in voicing those concerns—a responsibility that I know the newspaper takes seriously. Glasgow MSPs have a responsibility to address any concerns that are raised, which is why I met the transport minister and gained the reassurances that I believed were important. However, MSPs also have a responsibility to suggest enhancements to our rail network—indeed, we were encouraged to do so.

I therefore thank the Labour Party for so generously donating its debating time to me this morning; I will use it to draw to the minister’s attention once more some of the suggestions that I made in response to the rail 2014 consultation.

One issue that I raised concerns service provision on the Maryhill line. I often use the line to go to meetings with constituents, and it has been a significant success. However, the service remains incomplete: it does not run on Sundays except occasionally at Christmas time.

I will provide some examples of why a Sunday rail service is important. In Kelvindale there is a high level of car ownership, and 50 per cent of train tickets that are sold there are season tickets, which highlights the importance of the train for commuting to work. On Sundays, residents still wish to travel, and if they want to go shopping in the city centre, for example, they may well choose to use a car instead of the train for that journey. They may even skip the city centre altogether and take a car to the out-of-town shopping centres. A Sunday service could therefore have both economic and strong environmental benefits.

At Gilshochill station, which is on the same line, passenger numbers have trebled in the past four years. The Cadder area of Glasgow that the station serves is not well served by alternative public transport links and has a lower level of car ownership. The train is an important service for that community, and extending the service to run on Sundays would meet local social need. Other stations on the line are in a similar position.

I ask the minister to be cautious about any analysis that he may receive of passenger numbers for the four Sundays before Christmas, when First ScotRail occasionally runs trains as part of its franchise commitment, as those services have been subject to cancellations. In 2011, the service ran only on two Sundays before Christmas, and in 2010 it did not run at all.

Uptake of such services depends on commuters being aware of them, and on strong service reliability. There is likely to be significant room for improvement on both counts. Consequently, any data that is received on demand for a Sunday service will be highly unreliable. I therefore ask that consideration be given to my suggestion that services on the Maryhill line be expanded to run on Sundays on a regular basis, and for that to be a potential condition of any future franchise.

I am sure that the minister will want to consider the various suggestions that I made in my submission, including the feasibility of a train station at Robroyston, enhancements on the Newton line and greater connectivity in north Glasgow. I explored the idea of connecting the Maryhill and Springburn lines; the price for that was an eye-watering £40 million to £60 million, but in the medium to long term, we must take a strategic look at developing the rail network.

Finally, it would be worth exploring the idea of a not-for-profit operator. I thank the minister for listening to my suggestions.

09:54

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Meeting of the Parliament 23 February 2012

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