This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New late night Festival train service
01/08/2005
Festival goers are to benefit from new late night train
services that will run across the Central Belt of Scotland.
Tourism, Culture & Sport Minister Patricia Ferguson
today launched First ScotRail's new late night Festival
train services between Edinburgh and Glasgow and Edinburgh
and Stirling.
Among the new services is a 00:01 and 00:30 service from
Edinburgh to Glasgow with various stops on a Thursday,
Friday and Saturday night, and new service to Stirling
which will also benefit those from Perth.
Ms Ferguson made the announcement with First ScotRail
Managing Director Mary Dickson during a visit to Glasgow's
Queen Street Station where she said that First ScotRail's
expanding service has many potential benefits for
Scotland's tourism industry.
Patricia Ferguson said:
"The Edinburgh Festivals provide a unique opportunity
for Scottish audiences to experience cultural excellence of
the highest order. I am delighted that through the
expansion of these train services, communities across
central Scotland will have increased access to such
world-class experiences."
"The expansion of the late night service is great news
for Festival goers and great news for Scotland's tourism
industry. As the Festival service expands over this and
next year it will provide many potential economic benefits,
giving the areas surrounding the new late night service
routes the opportunity to benefit from tourists who will be
able to travel to and from Edinburgh more easily."
First ScotRail Managing Director Mary Dickson said:
"The many Edinburgh festivals are growing in popularity
and appeal each year, so we are delighted not only to be
sponsoring one of the top performances of the Edinburgh
International Festival but also to have been named the
official public transport operator.
"As part of our commitment to our customers, we will be
expanding on the previous late night festival services by
increasing the number of additional trains, running extra
trains on new routes and providing more capacity on many
services, with a view to providing even more next
year."
Paul Gudgin, Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
said:
"This is great news for the Fringe. With so many shows
going on late into the night we know this will be a very
popular initiative. It will help make hundreds more
performances accessible for audiences on these routes."
Ginnie Atkinson, Managing Director of the Edinburgh Film
Festival said:
"This is excellent news. It has been obvious for a
number of years that offering a later train service is not
only needed but wholly desirable not just for the obvious
reasons of making the festival as a whole accessible to
those from the west but because it chips away at the
mythical wall between Glasgow and Edinburgh. I am sure that
in 5 years time there will be a nightly service of several
additional trains."
Dave Corbett, Managing Director of T on the Fringe
said:
"We see this as a fantastic opportunity to help music
fans get to our gigs in Edinburgh this August, we believe
these will be popular and well used services."
First ScotRail will run additional late-night trains
back to Glasgow from Edinburgh on Thursday, Friday and
Saturday night. Departing Edinburgh early on Friday,
Saturday and Sunday mornings, the services will operate
from Saturday 6 August to Saturday 3 September. Trains will
depart Edinburgh at 00:01 and 00:30 calling at Linlithgow,
Polmont, Falkirk High, Croy and Lenzie.
On the route from Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via
Shotts an additional train service will run on weekday
evenings (not Saturday and Sunday) from Friday 5 August to
Friday 2 September departing Edinburgh at 23:07 and calling
at all stations except Breich.
An additional service between Edinburgh and Stirling
will also run on Sundays 7, 14, 21 and 28 August, departing
Edinburgh at 23:20 and calling at all stations except
Edinburgh Park. This service will allow passengers to
travel on to Perth by connecting into the 23:35 Glasgow to
Perth service at Stirling.
First ScotRail has identified services which are likely
to be busy and will be adding extra carriages to these to
provide additional capacity. Over the four weeks, almost
200 services will have carriages added. This includes
services on days where there are major events such as the
Festival Cavalcade and Fringe Sunday.