18.11.11
Proposals to change Scottish rail services
Passengers could be banned from drinking on Scottish trains under proposals from Transport Scotland’s Rail 2014 consultation.
However, there has been criticism over recommendations to cut certain services.
The consultation is examining the way services are run in Scotland. The document states: “One of the most distressing ways to spend a rail journey is to be subject to the bad behaviour of other passengers. This can be fuelled by excessive drinking of alcohol.
“Consideration is being given to whether there should be a ban on the consumption of alcohol on all trains in Scotland and we welcome views.”
Other proposals include raising fares on routes which have benefited from improvement work, providing additional capacity when overcrowding is an issue and considering separate franchise operators for sleeper services.
Transport Minister Keith Brown said: “Our ambition is to have a railway that offers value for money, ensures closer working and integration between Network Rail and the service operators and most importantly, has passenger interests at its heart.
“Our aim is to develop an efficient, passenger-focused railway which incorporates the best private sector attributes with the ethos of public service, and this consultation is a crucial part of our considerations.”
Labour’s transport spokesman Lewis Macdonald said: “The answer to tackling overcrowding on trains is not to ramp up fares, nor is the answer to late running trains simply to cut the number of trains or increase journey times.”
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Alex Johnstone said: “The number of services that Transport Scotland are proposing to cut or change would see a severe reduction in the variety of routes offered to Scottish passengers.
“Cutting cross-border trains would result in far poorer services to Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness and the Caledonian Sleeper provides a hugely important service that those who travel on it swear by.”
The Liberal Democrats’ Jim Hume argued that longer franchise terms should be considered instead of focusing on ‘short-termism’.
The consultation will run until February, and the results will be published later in 2012.
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