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ScotRail train breakdown nightmare left passengers on Glasgow to Inverness service stranded in ‘freezing’ carriages for almost eight hours


By Philip Murray

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ScotRail news.
ScotRail news.

A NIGHTMARE breakdown left rail passengers stranded in “freezing” conditions for eight hours in the middle of the night - “without food, blankets or heating”.

ScotRail has apologised after its 3.08pm Glasgow-Inverness service broke down near Carrbridge on Friday - and didn’t limp into the Highland capital until around 2am, more than seven-and-a-half hours late.

Angry Highlander Mike Grady branded the situation “a disgrace” after passengers were left with no food or heat in the middle of winter.

Speaking on behalf of a passenger he was meant to pick up from Inverness, but who was stuck on the train, he branded the incident a “total shambles”, adding: “The train was marooned outside Carrbridge in freezing conditions [from] 6.30pm. Beyond belief that in this pandemic passengers were trapped 15 miles from a city without food, blankets or any heating.

“Scotrail should be stripped of this franchise, [they’re] not fit to run a rail service and you could not even call Inverness station and speak to a human and the arrivals board showed nothing - a disgrace.”

Apologising for the epic delay, ScotRail explained that the fault was caused by a loss of power on the train between Aviemore and Inverness, which was the result of a fault between two carriages.

They added that an engineer was unable to repair the fault at the site and that “unfortunately, due to poor weather and underfoot conditions, it wasn’t possible to let passengers off the train”.

The delay caused knock-on disruption to other services, and the broken down train was eventually assisted into Inverness at around 2am by the 7.41pm Edinburgh to Inverness train.

ScotRail added that a station manager was at Inverness to apologise to the customers who were delayed and to advise them about how to claim a refund.

A ScotRail spokesperson said: “We’re sorry to customers who experienced disruption to their journey on Friday. We know the impact this would have had on your journey and plans for Friday evening.

“We are reviewing what happened to make sure it doesn’t occur again. Anyone delayed by 30 minutes or more is entitled to claim money back through our Delay Repay Guarantee on our website or mobile app.”



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