I have been trying in vain to buy advance tickets from ScotRail for a journey between Edinburgh and Mallaig on 19 September. We bought the outward and return tickets from London to Edinburgh with no trouble.
Customer service staff give various excuses, from engineering to rolling stock issues, for the tickets not being available. I have received an email from ScotRail saying the problem is because of ongoing building work at Glasgow’s Queen Street station which the route passes through. But Network Rail says there are no engineering works on the date of travel.
We just want to give ScotRail our money and book the final leg of our Highland holiday. It isn’t even possible to buy an off-peak return and reserve seats.
JF, Stansted Mountfichet
ScotRail tells us that because of redevelopment at Queen Street station, it is unable to release advance fares beyond 13 September. This affects a handful of routes, including those to Fort William, Oban and Mallaig. It is still waiting for confirmation from Network Rail on the specifics of the next stage of the work which includes platform extensions. Until then it can’t sell tickets, as there may be a replacement bus for some, or all, of the journey. ScotRail says it is “sorry for any inconvenience” and adds that tickets will be released “as soon as possible”.
The journey north from Glasgow, especially the West Highland Line between Oban and Mallaig, is regularly voted as one of the UK’s most scenic rail journeys – it would be a real shame to miss it.
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