Scottish railway stations with highest proportion of cancelled services revealed
The Scottish Liberal Democrats criticised SNP ministers over the figures
Figures have revealed the railway stations in Scotland with the highest proportion of cancelled services.
Helensburgh Central, Craigendoran and Cardross top the list, with more than one in 20 services cancelled in the last financial year.
They are followed by Caldercruix (5.7 per cent of services cancelled), Blackridge (5.7 per cent), Armadale (5.7 per cent), Dumbarton East (5.6 per cent), Dalreoch (5.6 per cent), Drumgelloch (5.6 per cent) and Uphall (5.4 per cent).
The Scottish Liberal Democrats, who highlighted the publicly available statistics, accused SNP minister of providing a “masterclass in how to make public transport as unattractive as possible”.
The party’s Jamie Greene, who represents the West Scotland region, said: “Passengers are shelling out huge sums of money to travel by train, only to find that some services simply don’t arrive. For people here in the west of Scotland, that’s a source of endless frustration.
“It’s more than three years since the SNP government took over responsibility for Scotland’s trains. In that time, they have clobbered passengers with ticket hikes and done next to nothing to minimise disruption or overcrowding.”
Nationally, the worst month for rail service delays was October 2024, with just 45 per cent of services arriving within 59 seconds of their scheduled arrival time and 84 per cent arriving within four minutes and 59 seconds of their scheduled arrival time.
Mark Ilderton, ScotRail’s service delivery director, said it operates more than 2,100 services every day, with around nine out of ten of those meeting the punctuality target.
He added: “Cancellations can be for a number of reasons, many of them outside the control of ScotRail, but represented less than 3 per cent of more than 650,000 services we operate across the country over the course of the year.
“We know how frustrating it is when a service is cancelled or delayed, and that is why everyone at ScotRail is working hard to deliver the safe and reliable railway that our customers expect and deserve, and to encourage more people to travel by train instead of using the car.
“With more than nine out of ten customers satisfied with our service according to Transport Focus, the independent watchdog for transport users, it’s testament to the hard work of ScotRail staff in delivering a safe, reliable, and green railway.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The cancellations for October-November 2024 represented 3.2 per cent of all ScotRail services.
“Train performance and passenger satisfaction in Scotland is consistently higher than the GB average – but we will keep making improvements, so more people choose to travel by rail.
“While our ability to invest and improve services is impacted by ongoing UK Government spending decisions, we have invested over £12 billion in rail infrastructure in Scotland since 2007 with a further £1.5 billion investment planned for this financial year.
“Fare increases are lower than elsewhere in the UK, and we’re permanently removing ScotRail peak fares from 1 September 2025. This move will help people with ongoing cost of living pressures, eradicate child poverty and tackle the climate emergency by saving existing rail passengers money, including parents, and encouraging new, potential passengers onto the train and to leave the car at home.
“The Scottish Government believes fundamentally that a fully devolved and integrated railway, publicly controlled and operated in the service of the people of Scotland and truly accountable to them, will deliver better and more efficient services for our people and our communities. We will keep pressing for full devolution of all the powers over rail infrastructure and to have full powers to nationalise Scotland’s railway.”
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