Stranded passengers demonstrate need for railway
05, 11 16 13:54
It was like a scene from Arnold Ridley’s The Ghost Train; a remote and deserted station with no bus service to take passengers through to their destination of St Andrews, nearly 6 miles away. Apart from the 2 or 3 who were met on the platform by friends with cars, the one canny gentleman who had pre-booked a taxi and sped away in it and of course those who had left a vehicle in the car-park, there was no obvious way of getting home for the remaining 7 or 8 people, most of whom were students. The previous arrangement, whereby the last bus would contact Scotrail to check the train’s ETA and then wait, appears to no longer apply.
The full text of the Courier’s article can be found at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/309488/anger-as-passengers-bound-for-st-andrews-left-stranded-late-at-night/
Note - according to the Scotrail website, PlusBus tickets are only valid at Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy stations in Fife so, contrary to what the cited Scotrail spokesperson said, it was not an option between Leuchars and St Andrews.
It should also be noted that many people describe the station as ‘Leuchars for St Andrews’, and there has even been pressure from some quarters to make that its official name. That, surely, would imply that there is a way from reaching St Andrews from Leuchars other than a long walk.
Questions have to be asked how the previous arrangement was allowed to lapse, especially as Fife Council subsidises that particular bus service to serve the last train. However the fact that leaving passengers for a destination of the calibre of St Andrews to fend for themselves at dead of night in the middle of nowhere is apparently considered acceptable, demonstrates precisely why the existing arrangements are completely inadequate. Without a doubt the railway should take passengers right through to St Andrews.
The full text of the Courier’s article can be found at:
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/fife/309488/anger-as-passengers-bound-for-st-andrews-left-stranded-late-at-night/
Note - according to the Scotrail website, PlusBus tickets are only valid at Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy stations in Fife so, contrary to what the cited Scotrail spokesperson said, it was not an option between Leuchars and St Andrews.
It should also be noted that many people describe the station as ‘Leuchars for St Andrews’, and there has even been pressure from some quarters to make that its official name. That, surely, would imply that there is a way from reaching St Andrews from Leuchars other than a long walk.
Questions have to be asked how the previous arrangement was allowed to lapse, especially as Fife Council subsidises that particular bus service to serve the last train. However the fact that leaving passengers for a destination of the calibre of St Andrews to fend for themselves at dead of night in the middle of nowhere is apparently considered acceptable, demonstrates precisely why the existing arrangements are completely inadequate. Without a doubt the railway should take passengers right through to St Andrews.