South of Scotland MSP and Scottish Labour’s Transport Spokesperson Colin Smyth has challenged Transpennine Express to sign up to a 10-point improvement plan he had compiled, ahead of a public meeting being held about the failing train franchise in Lockerbie tomorrow (Thursday).

Just some of his demands include:

• A commitment to urgently return punctuality on the Scotland routes to above 80% (the average the first half of 2019) with a clear timetable to move above 85%
• A commitment to reduce to below 10% the monthly cancellation and significant lateness rate on the Scotland routes urgently (the average for the first half of 2019) with a clear timetable to reduce to 5% or below (which has been achieved twice within the last two years) and a clear commitment to meet the franchise annual CASL target of 3.6% in year 6 of the franchise (2020-21)
• Review of pricing including a reintroduction of off-peak fares for early morning services to Edinburgh until a direct morning service to Edinburgh to arrive just before 9 am is introduced.
• A review of ticketing to introduce a Flexipass ticket for regular commuter tickets who travel on a regular basis
• A commitment to put on extra carriages during busy periods such as the Edinburgh festival and international rugby matches at Murrayfield

Following requests from regular passengers to the South West Scotland Transport Partnership (SWestrans) Board, the Lockerbie Station Liaison Group will be reconvened and will hold a meeting tomorrow evening to discuss the performance of rail services at Lockerbie, rail timetable and fares.

The meeting will be open to the public and TransPennine Express, Avanti West Coast and ScotRail have confirmed their attendance.

It will take place in the town hall at 7.30 pm and comes on the back of recent figures which revealed that TransPennine’s cancellation rate was the worst in the country at 6.6 per cent for Q3 (October, November and December 2019), an increase of 0.2 per cent on the same period last year.

Punctuality was second worst in the country, with only 41 per cent of trains running on time.

Colin Smyth said: “I have put together a comprehensive list of demands for TransPennine Express and I expect them to start listening.

“We need real answers at Thursday’s meeting, rather than more empty promises. I also firmly believe that Lockerbie passengers deserve a proper apology for the years of appalling service they have had to put up with.

“The recent figures show the company is one of the worst performing rail franchises in the UK. In fact, the cancellation rate is the worst in the country. For those of us who regularly travel on TransPennine Express services from Lockerbie, this won’t come as a surprise.

“Cancellations when there are regular trains is one thing but at Lockerbie, where at some parts of the day there is a four-hour gap between trains to Edinburgh, a cancellation could mean the difference between getting to the capital on the same day or not.

“Commuters from Lockerbie station have been treated as second-class passengers for far too long, this firm isn’t fit to run our trains.

In the absence of action from the UK Government I have set out a 10-point plan which would make a huge difference and I hope the company sign up to my plan”.

Full 10-point plan:

1. A commitment to urgently return punctuality (PPM) on the Scotland routes to above 80% (the average the first half of 2019) with a clear timetable to move above 85% (which has been met twice in the last two years) and a clear commitment to meet the franchise annual PPM target of 91.5% in year 6 of the franchise (2020-21)
2. A commitment to reduce to below 10% the monthly cancellation and significant lateness rate on the Scotland routes urgently (the average for the first half of 2019) with a clear timetable to reduce to 5% or below (which has been achieved twice within the last two years) and a clear commitment to meet the franchise annual CASL target of 3.6% in year 6 of the franchise (2020-21)
3. Review of pricing including a reintroduction of off-peak fares for early morning services to Edinburgh until a direct morning service to Edinburgh to arrive just before 9 am is introduced.
4. A review of ticketing to introduce a Flexipass ticket for regular commuter tickets who travel on a regular basis
5. A commitment to put on extra carriages during busy periods such as the Edinburgh festival and international rugby matches at Murrayfield
6. An end to the current ban on passengers from Lockerbie booking seats online for journeys to Edinburgh and Glasgow during busy periods.
7. Reintroduce a 10.35 am service from Lockerbie to Edinburgh urgently.
8. Introduce a direct service between Lockerbie and Edinburgh to arrive just before 9 am during the week.
9. Introduce a service from Lockerbie to Edinburgh around 2.35 pm during the week to end the current gap in service between the 12.25 pm and 4.35 pm service.
10. Introduce a morning service from Lockerbie to Edinburgh on a Sunday, as currently the first train is 2.35 pm.