LETTERS from Rob Kelly (February 12) and Alistair Chisholm (February 20) highlighted the drastic effect that partial singling of the Milngavie and Largs branch rail lines in the 1980s has had on the timetabling and reliability of ScotRail services.
As a former member of British rail’s admin staff, I venture to suggest that the £144 million that was proposed to be spent on the fortunately now-stalled financial white elephant, Glasgow Airport Train Tram Link, would be better spent on restoring the Balloch, Helensburgh, Milngavie and Largs branches to their former double-track state throughout.
When I used to travel up to Glasgow from Balloch daily on the iconic "Blue Trains" they ran almost perfectly to time. However, the rot set in after the Balloch line was singled in 1973. Balloch trains were then routinely terminated at Dumbarton Central when running late and stations "skipped" to make up time.
Then, after the new single-platform Balloch station was opened in 1988 it was no longer possible to run the many excursion trains which had formerly reached Balloch from all over the UK, while Alexandria station platform was retained on the wrong side, away from the car park and connecting buses. Timetabling was further complicated by the re-opening of the Central Low Level line in 1979, which caused additional pressure on the ‘throat’ through Partick for all North Clyde services.
Finally, in the 1980s there was also a money-saving penchant for reducing double track junctions to "single lead", for example at Craigendoran, Westerton, Bellgrove and Newton. This dubious practice inevitably caused delays and resulted in serious collisions at Bellgrove and Newton and a near-collision at Craigendoran, when an electric train ended up facing a West Highland line train.
Robert D Campbell,
48 McLean Place, Paisley.
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