HAVING read the news of the new ScotRail timetable coming in to force in June, it is clear to see that bosses have not listened to the concerns of local people.

They have ploughed ahead with the flawed timetable proposals put out to public consultation late last year.

For decades, the Gourock line had three trains per hour - one 'fast' service and two 'all stops' services.

Services were cut during the pandemic and now ScotRail are keeping the cuts in place. They will only run two daytime services per hour on the Gourock line to Glasgow. This line will now have one less train per hour going forward.

Local SNP MSP, Stuart McMillan, has campaigned for two services per hour on the Wemyss Bay line for some time. He has now gotten his wish. From my understanding, many people living in Wemyss Bay and Inverkip are annoyed, as their commute to work in Glasgow will now take longer than it ever has done before.

Stuart's ScotRail campaign has resulted in longer journey times on that line as the Wemyss Bay daytime trains will now stop at every single stop on the line, rather than being the 'fast' services they were before.

Mr McMillan's campaign for a second service on the Wemyss Bay line is also responsible for the cuts to the Gourock line services.

ScotRail have said that they cannot run two hourly services on one line, and three on the other. Therefore, to introduce the second hourly daytime Wemyss Bay service, cuts have to be made to the Gourock services.

As has been pointed out previously in the Telegraph, the new timetable is going to cause a lot of problems for many people.

If someone uses the Wemyss Bay line to travel to work in Hillington, that person is able to get to work during the day as every daytime service stops at every stop on the line. However, they wouldn't be able to get home from work as every evening Glasgow to Wemyss Bay service reverts to a limited stop, fast service. This is a very strange situation.

Similarly, a person from Greenock travelling to work in Hillington for a back shift can no longer get to work as every single day time train from Gourock to Glasgow is a fast, limited stop service. They can get home though, as the evening services are all slow trains. Again, what a crazy situation for commuters. This just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

ScotRail have also scrapped the 22:50 fast service from Glasgow to Gourock. This service was well used by people going home to Bishopton, Port Glasgow, Greenock and Gourock after social occasions in Glasgow.

I responded to the ScotRail consolation to raise these issues. I know of others who raised similar concerns. Yet, nothing has changed from the original proposals put forward months ago.

Perhaps ScotRail should publish the comments they received in full, so that local people can judge the fairness and openness of this so-called consultation.

Craig Wilson

Greenock