ScotRail is set to cut 250 services from its pre-pandemic timetable, despite the biggest public consultation response in its history.
From May the train operator will run 2,150 daily trains, compared to 2,400 which ran in 2019.
After it announced its reduced January timetable, ScotRail has only been running around 1,850 daily trains due to staff Covid-related absences - around 150 fewer than daily services in December.
The reduction of services is set to be restored later this month, but ScotRail has announced it has made “some alterations to its initial proposals” following feedback in 3,450 responses to the consultation.
The consultation was launched in August 2021 after the impact of coronavirus transformed travel patterns and accelerated pre-pandemic trends.
The alterations include retaining an all-day direct Edinburgh-Perth service via Kirkcaldy rather than Dunfermline as planned, with more evening Fife trains.
A daytime half-hourly service will also be reinstated on the Borders railway to Tweedbank “on a trial basis” after it was reduced to hourly during the pandemic.
Scotland’s largest train operator added that an additional early morning service from New Cumnock to Glasgow would be introduced, along with evening peak and late-evening services from Glasgow to Dumfries.
More services are also set to be added to the Edinburgh-Glasgow Central routes via Carstairs and via Shotts routes in December this year and May next year “due to a delay in driver training caused by the pandemic”.
In the major consultation, half of respondents said that they previously commuted by train to work every day but would work from home for some of the week for the foreseeable future.
ScotRail said that peak hour travel remained at under half of pre-pandemic levels and it was not yet clear if they would ever fully return.
On the other side, it said that off-peak passenger numbers had recovered to 82 per cent and were expected to return to 2019 levels by the end of the year.
ScotRail operations director David Simpson said: “This timetable is the start of the process of recovering from the pandemic and as passenger numbers increase, we will keep the number of services under regular review.
“What is clear from the evidence we’ve made publicly available is that providing a good rail service does not on its own attract significant numbers to public transport.
"Train operators, government, and trade unions need to work together to encourage other policy levers to be used.”
Jenny Gilruth MSP, Minister for Transport, said: “I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to give their views and experiences in this consultation. It’s important that people have their say when changes to the timing and frequency of rail services are proposed and I’m pleased that ScotRail listened and responded by revising the proposals to ensure that post-pandemic, more people will have more opportunities to travel in Scotland by train.
“From May, there will be 150 more services operating than in December 2021. This new timetable will help us all recover from the impacts of the pandemic and provides us with a solid starting point to offer rail passengers a more reliable service which is fit for the future.”
But Rail Maritime and Transport union Scotland organiser Mick Hogg said: “It’s a very significant cut.”
Kevin Lindsay, Scotland area secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, said: “Today the Scottish Government sat back and allowed ScotRail to start the process of a managed decline on Scotland’s railway.
"The flawed consultation which disadvantaged disability groups has seen the biggest cuts in our railway since the Beeching cuts in the 1960s.”
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