Controversial axe of 7.42am Largs rail service to Glasgow

From May 21, the 7.42am Monday-Saturday train from Largs to Glasgow Central will be removed from the timetable.

Currently, travellers leaving Largs by train in the morning peak period have the choice of services departing Largs at 7.22am, 7.42am and 8.33am.

But under ScotRail's summer timetable, the three morning peak trains will be reduced to two, with services leaving Largs at 7.23am and 8.07am.

The first of those will reach Glasgow Central at 8.27am - only eight minutes earlier than the arrival time for the current 7.42am train, despite the departure time being almost 20 minutes earlier.

From May 21, the train which would have run on the 7.42am service from Largs will instead start from Ardrossan Harbour station at 7.53am.

Councillor Tom Marshall (Conservative, North Coast) said the changes were a "disgrace" and had been imposed without any consultation by ScotRail.

All Largs trains from May 21 onwards will stop at all stations between Kilwinning and Paisley Gilmour Street before running non-stop from Paisley to Glasgow - a move which, according to ScotRail, will allow better connectivity for passengers travelling to stations between Kilwinning and Paisley, who will no longer need to change trains at Kilwinning.

There are also concerns that the changes will also have an impact on Largs Academy pupils travelling to school from Fairlie and West Kilbride.

Under the new timetable, after the 7.23am departure, trains will depart Largs at seven minutes past each hour for the rest of the day - except for the post-6pm service, which will leave Largs at 6.16pm.

Cllr Tom Marshall has blasted the timetable changes and in particular the 7.42am axe (Image: North Ayrshire Conservatives)

Trains bringing school pupils to Largs in the morning will now arrive at 8.00am and 8.48am - instead of the current arrival time of 8.20am.

Cllr Marshall said: "I am surprised that there appears to have been no consultation whatsoever on this unacceptable change and would appreciate some explanation from Scotrail.

"Constituents have contacted me to say ScotRail has made a new timetable for Largs to Glasgow and return.

"This will have an impact on school children travelling to the academy and back to Fairlie and West Kilbride.

"This is to accommodate people from Kilwinning to Glasgow. These journeys will now take 65-plus minutes for Largs, Fairlie and West Kilbride travellers. 

"As far as I know this has not been discussed at local council meetings - especially for the 7.42 train starting at Ardrossan.

"The Glasgow to Largs train will change times, and will take 65-plus minutes, stopping at all stations from Paisley to Largs - which is an hourly service compared to Kilwinning-Glasgow and return.

"They will have four to six trains an hour, compared to Largs, Fairlie and West Kilbride’s one an hour.”

Councillor Marshall says he has spoken to Labour councillor Donald Reid, who is the North Ayrshire Council representative on the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

Cllr Marshall added: "Donald has a meeting with ScotRail and he will chase it up and is waiting for a response.

"I think it is absolutely appalling that Largs is getting a poorer service with the trains taking longer to get to Glasgow and back.

"Other services, such as Ayr to Glasgow, have four trains per hour, while the Wemyss Bay to Glasgow service is going to be half-hourly.

"We are the poorer relations.

"It means it will encourage more people to use their car, which defeats the purpose of trying to get more people to use public transport."

ScotRail says the changes - which it describes as "interim" alterations - are partly driven by a backlog in training up new trainee drivers following the Covid pandemic, and partly by the need to support the temporary move of Arran's ferry service from Ardrossan to Troon.

There is, however, no confirmed date yet for when the ferry service change will take effect.

During the pandemic, ScotRail faced well publicised challenges with its driver training programme.

Approximately 160 trainees in the driver training programme had their training suspended for 15 months as it was not possible to practice physical distancing in a train driving cab.

The greatest impact of the delay in training was felt at large depots which operate suburban services, including the Largs route. 

7.42am service has been running to Glasgow from the 1960s (Image: Newsquest)

ScotRail says it identified the need to make some alterations to its May 2023 timetable, including temoving some station calls on services to and from Ayr and adding them to services to Largs and Ardrossan.

The company says it is engaging with local stakeholders who have raised concerns with the timetable change and is in the process of designing future timetables.

They hope to share these plans with customers and stakeholders in Ayrshire in the coming months, and gain feedback on the proposals.

Scott Prentice, ScotRail's head of business development, said: “We know how much people right across the country rely on rail travel, and that’s why everyone at ScotRail is focused on providing the safest, greenest, and most reliable railway we can.

“Scotland’s railway is still very much in a period of recovery from the pandemic, and our May timetable change is another stepping stone in that process.

"We apologise to those customers who will be inconvenienced by this interim change.

“We have developed new timetables which we believe will encourage more people in Ayrshire to travel by train. and look forward to hearing the views of customers and local communities when we share them in the coming months.”

The new timetable can be viewed online at www.scotrail.co.uk.