Industrial action has been blamed for the “unreliable” implementation of a new rail service in Broughty Ferry.
And ScotRail bosses have warned that it may take weeks before a dependable timetable is administered.
Ferry councillor Craig Duncan has received a “number of complaints” from constituents about the issue, with several trains being late or delayed on the new east coast service introduced on December 9.
More trains stopping at Broughty Ferry is good news. Bad news is only trains from Edinburgh do this. My journey from Perth to BF will take almost an HOUR changing trains in Dundee after a wait of 20mins!
— Shelagh Barclay (@BarclayShelagh) December 9, 2018
The Liberal Democrat councillor has now written to ScotRail’s managing director, Alex Hynes, about the issue.
ScoRail has accepted its delivery “isn’t acceptable” but warned passengers the disruption will continue as new drivers and conductors are trained.
The company also blamed recent industrial action by rail union RMT on the delays.
@ScotRail more broughty ferry cancellations again this morning this is the last 12 hours. People are trying to get home for Xmas. pic.twitter.com/JMynHQ21cd
— Longy ????????? (@longydfc) December 22, 2018
Mr Duncan said: “I have had a number of complaints about train delays and cancellations to services since the timetable changed. I welcomed the introduction of extra stopping services at Broughty Ferry stations as a potential game changer but it is vital that rail services are reliable.
“An improved timetable requires reliability and I hope that ScotRail will rise to the occasion and make the additional services the success we all want them to be.”
The councillor also stressed the need for better links between the east coast services with the rail line to Perth and Glasgow, as well as the need for a ticket machine at Broughty Ferry station.
A ScotRail spokesman said: “We’re sorry to customers for the disruption in recent weeks.
“We know the impact this has on your day, and are working flat out to get things back to normal.”
The spokesman said the reasons for the disruptions were the late delivery of new trains by Hitachi and Wabtec and the industrial action by RMT, which included an overtime ban that lasted for several weeks.
The action was voted for “overwhelmingly” by RMT members in a bid to secure a more equal pay structure on overtime for all front line staff.
The ScotRail spokesman added: “Training is ongoing so that we can get services back to normal and we can expect an improvement in the coming weeks. But while we continue to train our conductors and drivers, some disruption will remain.
“We know this isn’t acceptable, and are sorry to customers about this. Every single person at the ScotRail Alliance is working hard to improve things for our customers as soon as possible.”
The news comes after it emerged there has been a large rise in the number of compensation payments to disgruntled customers in the last three years.
The amount of travellers applying for a “delay, repay” voucher has risen by 206 percent.
ScotlRail admitted that their performance was not good enough and apologised to customers.
