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Glasgow Queen Street Station (image via ScotRail).jpgExtra carriages for bikes to be added to ScotRail trains on the West Highland Line
ScotRail is to introduce Britain’s first rail carriages reserved for bikes and outdoor equipment in response to overcrowding on the West Highland Line between Glasgow, Oban, Fort William and Mallaig.
Last September, the Scottish Government said in a report that it was exploring “introducing dedicated carriages for cycles and other outdoor sports equipment on rural routes in the north and west” of the country.
The Scotsman reports that Transport Scotland is now working with ScotRail to reconfigure carriages to accommodate cyclists and their bikes.
Earlier today, transport minister Humza Yousaf tweeted: “It's our aspiration the first dedicated train carriage for cyclists & other sports enthusiasts will enter service by summer next year.”
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “This will very much be a trial, and help to inform the future rolling stock requirements, so the Scottish rail fleet can support growing cycle tourism sector over the next 30 or 40 years.”
A ScotRail spokesperson said: “We’re looking forward to working with our key partners on how we can boost tourism and bring wider economic benefits, along Scotland’s most scenic railways.”
Frank Roach, partnership manager of the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership co-ordinating body, said: “Cycle tourism is growing in our area and the train is a great way to get to the start of your ride.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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7 comments
No need for a separate carriage, just space for 10 or so bikes in a carriage with seating as well. That's what you'l find in other countries where cycle carriage on trains is commonplace. That's less likely to result in complaints when there aren't many bikes and too many passengers. OTOH folding seats in the cycle space are always a problem because of the awkwardness of asking the occupant to give up seat for a bike.
Getting bikes off a separate carriage on the train could add a lot to dwell times. That's not a problem for a long distance service on a little used line, but would cause chaos on a busy line where other services would be affected. That's why you're seeing this here and not on commuter lines, unfortunately.
Strange that this is targeted at tourism rather than the panacea of cycle-train-cycle commuting.
It's easier to do this on a route where most of the stations have platforms longer than most of the current trains, ie like the West Highland Line. There's not really much commuting use on it.
I'd like to see them extend the initiative by adding a proper bike carrying carriage to the HST sets they're introducing. It would be possible to modify some of the carriages that currently have a guards van on so that the wide door is also powered and expand the van area to half the carriage. Just needs investment.
Not sure that's what they're planning to do - although it's not clear what they're planning to do... www.scotsman.com/news/transport/anger-at-bike-space-cut-on-scotrail-s-ne...
This is a big change, and long overdue. At this time last year, Scotrail wrote that its policy was "to reduce demand for taking bikes on trains".
The next step should be an improvement in bike-carrying on other lines, e.g. to Inverness.
Well done ScotRail.