Borders Railway: Extra carriage bid to tackle overcrowding

ScotRail is adding extra carriages to some Borders Railway services after complaints of passengers being unable to board trains and overcrowding.

A number of customers have raised concerns about the two-carriage provision on the line.

ScotRail said it had tried to allow for the "novelty factor" of the Edinburgh to Tweedbank route but the level of interest had been "remarkable".

It said it was looking at doubling carriage numbers at some times.

Passengers posting on social media said they had been "packed like sardines" or unable to board some services at all.

The company said it was doing its best to try to tackle that situation.

'Best use'

However, it said the demand in recent days - particularly from families "making a day of it" at weekends - had been considerable.

A spokeswoman said: "We are continuing to monitor passenger numbers so we can tailor how to make best use of the carriages available to us.

"For example, we may have found a way to temporarily double the number of carriages on a Sunday, and aim to do the same on Saturdays during peak times.

"We are also planning to add carriages in the short term to one particularly busy service, the 16:24 from Edinburgh - Tweedbank which is key for commuters."

She added that the route was going to be very popular with "commuters and leisure travellers alike" and ScotRail remained committed to achieving the best balance so that customers had an "enjoyable experience".

'Highly predictable'

The Campaign for Borders Rail said it had repeatedly warned that there would be "much more demand than was being planned for".

"We are delighted that the Borders Railway is already proving sceptics wrong, and that is to be celebrated," a spokesman said.

"However, we raised the issues of underestimating demand with the Scottish government and its Transport Scotland agency in advance of the opening and even before track laying commenced."

He said the "remarkable" demand did not come as any surprise and that his organisation had been assured all trains would have extra carriages in initial weeks but that was "clearly not the case".

David Spaven, the author of a book on the railway, said the level of interest in the route had been "highly predictable".

"Professional railway managers should not be deploying two-coach trains at the busiest travel times, when four or six-coach trains are needed," he said.

"The combination of Transport Scotland's cutback in double track from 16 to 9½ miles and poor management by ScotRail has led to a pretty shoddy experience for too many travellers who are new to rail.

"It was critical to get things right in the first few weeks of the railway, but the opportunity to build on all the goodwill towards the new railway has been partly squandered."

Have you travelled on the new Borders Railway yet and was it an "enjoyable experience"? Let us know your thoughts on its first days of operation [e-mail].

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