Plans for Scotland's railways- more bike parking, local food and scenic trains

7/1/2015

In October 2014 it was announced that Abellio, a Dutch company, had been awarded the Scotrail franchise for the next 10 years. There are many exciting developments that come with the new franchise, including new trains, increased bike parking and scenic trains. However, I could see no sign of increased bicycle spaces on the trains which is the main thing that would benefit cyclists using the railways.

A brochure summarises the key improvements. There is a commitment to introduce locomotive hauled trains on some routes and there is even a picture of such a train in the brochure . I think this is one of the most promising aspects of the franchise as these trains provide more capacity and more comfort than the current rolling stock. There may even be potential to add additional bicycle spaces, although this is not stated in the brochure.

Image of a locomotive hauled high speed train from the Scotrail franchise brochure. There are currently no Scotrail trains like this, so this is one of the most exciting aspects of the new franchise.

It would be a shame if increased bicycle spaces were not provided, particularly as the brochure recognises the tourist potential of Scotland's railways. There is promise of a "Scenic railway service" on the West Highland, Far North and Kyle lines. The details of what this will be are not contained in the brochure, but any enhancement of the tourist potential of these routes should consider adequate bike provision. In particular, my experience of the Far North line in the summer is that the bike spaces are often not enough because of the huge number of cyclists who use the line when doing Land's End to or from John O'Groats.

There will be 3500 additional cycle spaces at stations, which is clearly aimed at encouraging people to cycle to a station and take the train to work. This is a good thing, but I think that many cyclists who use the railways would regard more bikes being carried on the trains as more of a priority than bike parking at stations. I am optimistic that Abellio, being a Dutch company, will see the benefit of increasing bike spaces on the trains.

The locomotive hauled trains also increase the possibilities to enhance catering facilities- there is mention of "galley catering", which presumably means a kitchen. Currently the catering is restricted to what can be accommodated on the trolley that is wheeled through the train. A kitchen facility could mean cooked meals and the brochure states that "some of Scotland's best and local food and drink brands" would be offered, but no further details are provided.

The new franchise is full of promise and I am optimistic about what is proposed. I think that Scotland's scenic railway routes are long overdue better rolling stock, particularly as countries like Canada, America and Australia have trains that are as special and as attractive as the landscapes that they pass through. I really do hope that the provision of bicycle spaces on the trains is given consideration as bicycle tourism is an increasing market and more people will come to enjoy Scotland as a result.

What do you think of the new proposals?

5 Comments

Alasdair MacCaluim link

9/1/2015 12:03:32 am

There should be lots of cycle space on the refurbished HST trains as pictured above which will be on the services to Inverness and Aberdeen from Glasgow and Edinburgh. I'm not sure about the rest of the network, however.

Colin

9/1/2015 05:22:02 am

Hi Alasdair. That would be good. Do you know if the spaces are likely to be inside the locomotive (luggage section) or on the actual coaches? East Coast have the bike spaces inside the loco and I think it is about a max of 6 they take, but if space is also used in the coaches it could be increased.

Michael Redfern

2/2/2015 09:19:56 pm

Would be interested to hear more about this, speaking as someone who is keen to explore the more remote corners of Britain by bike, and who works in the rail industry (so tends to hear about the goings-on regarding franchises – although as a civil engineer I don’t deal with that side of things). As it happens I have a friend who works for a company servicing trains on the Great Western route and he says that the trains used on that route will be transferred to Scotland once the Great Western route is electrified and gets new trains.

You mention the Far North Line and the difficulty of getting a reservation on that line due to its use by cyclists doing Land’s End to/from John o’Groats – I did a cycling holiday in the far north of Scotland in the summer of 2012; I used the Forsinard Hotel as my base (sadly this has since closed) and took the train to the nearby Kildonan, Altnabreac and Scotscalder stations to ride between the stations or back to Forsinard along the network of single-track roads and dirt trails up there. For what it’s worth, only once did I not get the reservation I wanted for my fixed mountain bike – this was on the early afternoon southbound service from Forsinard to Kildonan; I ended up taking the late afternoon service that day and rode back to Forsinard from Kildonan. The owner of the hotel told me that it’s most difficult to get a bike space on the early afternoon southbound train from Wick, since that’s the nearest station and that’s the earliest train that people doing Land’s End to John o’Groats can get their bikes on after finishing their ride. Generally speaking I found it was better to get a northbound train and then cycle back south, as most seem to cycle north to John o’Groats and then ride the train south; when I took northbound services I found there were almost no people or bikes on the train. And on the subject of there being no-one on the train – I’d be surprised if the Far North Line got too many improvements in either passenger or bike space due to its relatively low patronage. Most of those who use it are either occasional random tourists or Land’s End to John o’Groats hikers or cyclists, particularly at the northern end. Going north of Inverness long-distance buses are often quicker than the train so most going that way seem to use those instead. Still, something to watch out for. Of course, a way around the reservations is to buy a folding bike which doesn’t require a reservation – probably worth the investment if you’re taking your bike on public transport regularly.

3/2/2015 09:32:56 pm

Hello Michael,
Thanks for reading the blog and for your comment. That's really interesting about the trains coming from Great Western- I never knew that.
And good tips about using the Far North Line with bicycles. It is a shame that the Forsinard Hotel is closed because I was planning to do a trip up that way and stay at the hotel. I have also taken my bike to Altnabreac and wrote about this in the "Journeys" section of my website. It is an amazing place to go for a bike ride.

4/2/2015 07:37:42 pm

Hello Colin – thanks for the response; I’ve read your report on your Altnabreac trip and can concur with what you found. Indeed it was a Google search for Altnabreac some time after I was there that led me to your report. Although out of all the stations I visited on that trip (apart from my base at Forsinard) it was the only one I saw anyone at: on arriving there having ridden from Scotscalder (to catch the return train to Forsinard) I found someone waiting, and two days later I took the train there to ride back to Forsinard and there was someone else travelling there from Forsinard also!

I actually went back there last summer – my mother and I got tickets to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and we did a tour of the North Highlands before that; on one day we walked from Altnabreac back to Forsinard having taken the train from there. We’d planned to stay at Forsinard which was how I found out about the hotel closing – the owner cited a dispute with the RSPB who run the adjoining nature reserve. Instead we stayed in Helmsdale (and drove to Forsinard from there – we could have taken the train all the way but that would have meant relying on the last train to get us back, and had we missed that or had it been cancelled we’d have been stranded); there are numerous places to stay there and given what I say about it being easier to get bike spaces on northbound trains it’s a good place to base yourself if you’re going up there.

Plans for Scotland's railways- more bike parking, local food and scenic trains

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