Outraged ScotRail passengers crammed into packed two-carriage train for hours take to Twitter
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
FURIOUS rail passengers have slammed ScotRail after finding themselves crammed like sardines onto a packed train on the Highland mainline that only has two carriages – in the middle of a Bank Holiday weekend.
Several disgruntled passengers have been tweeting aboard this afternoon's ongoing 1.12pm Perth to Inverness service to slam the "outrageous" situation –- with all the aisles full of standing passengers and the chock-full carriages becoming "ridiculously hot".
One Tweeter, Lauren, posted a picture of one of the aisles crammed full of people, and branding the situation "surely a joke".
She added: "All aisles are full and it is ridiculously hot."
She added: "There should definitely be an alternative [to this train] because this is outrageous. The only one we were offered is get off at the next stop and wait two hours for the next one."
And fellow passenger Angus J Mackintosh Watson was also incredulous at the situation.
In his own tweets he said: "Two carriages!!! From Perth to Inverness on a bank holiday weekend."
He continued: "I was travelling on Ukraine trains this week. Clean, organised and on time in Europe’s biggest war for a generation.
"If they can do this during a conflict, surely we can manage more than two carriages from Perth to Inverness on a bank holiday weekend?
Another tweeter agreed: "Daft on a weekend when there's two massive concerts at Murrayfield as it's obvious it's going to be busy! Glad we chose to drive down for our show last night."
Others such as Fiona Di Sotto, hit out at the stuffy conditions caused by so many people being crammed into an enclosed space: "Need air con or fresh air immediately."
Responding to some of the tweets, ScotRail said the situation was caused by a fault which meant the train had to run with one carriage less than normal.
In one tweet, they said: "I’m sorry it’s busy Angus. We have a finite number of carriages available to use across the network and we’re unable to add extra carriages to every busy service."
And in another tweet, they added: "I’m sorry that this train is running with 1 less carriage. This is due to a door fault. We do maintain our trains to a high standard, however, as with anything mechanical they can develop faults.
"Our engineers are working hard to get the fleet back to full strength ASAP."
And it would appear the 1.12pm Perth to Inverness service was not the only Highland mainline journey to infuriate passengers today, with several others hitting out at packed conditions even in some three-carriage services between the central belt and Highland capital.
Tweeting shortly before 11am this morning Joyce McMillan said: "Scenes at Waverley, with hundreds of people - with children, babies, heavy luggage - trying to board the mid-morning ScotRail Express to Inverness, on Bank Holiday Saturday, only to find it’s a tiny, grossly overloaded 3 coach turbo. More on at Haymarket. What were you thinking?"
And Callum Sword also said morning services had been no better.
- What about you? Have you travelled with ScotRail on the Highland mainline this Bank Holiday weekend? What was the experience like? Let us know at newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk
