CHARLIE WHELAN: This train is now approaching Thurso... not that you would know it
The ScotRail dispute with train crews may be over but the terrible service isn’t.
Since the nationalist government took over from the private company Abellio the train system seems to have got worse. But just in case you think that the Scottish strikes being over have put paid to disruption think again.
The guard on the train on my journey from Aviemore to Thurso tells me that because Network Rail isn’t part of ScotRail any strikes down south will hit us up here.
The departure of Abellio seems to have put and end to the promise that they would enhance the tourist experience on the far north line.
On the way up to Thurso with my old friend, Daily Mirror columnist and railway enthusiast Paul Routledge, the bemused Chinese tourists couldn’t take in any of the magnificent views because the train’s windows were so dirty!
Even more bemusing to our hungry guests was the absence of a drinks and food trolley for the three hour and forty minute journey.
The guard who ScotRail tried to sack told us that there is only one hospitality steward for the whole of the north Highland network.
Even if we were lucky enough to have a train trolley there would be no alcohol because the nanny state SNP have banned it.
The visiting Chinese certainly got a taste of ScotRail hospitality at Thurso station on the way home on Sunday.
The toilet on the station was padlocked, the entrance to the station closed and next to the Welcome to Thurso sign was another saying ‘No loitering’!
I’ve travelled on all of the Highland railways many times and it’s safe to say that on the whole there is nowhere in the world to beat the stunning scenery especially on the line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh.
Had the Tories got their way in the Sixties when they closed so many of our branch lines including those at Grantown these magnificent train journeys would not exist.
Surely now that the Scottish Government has taken them over they deserve some real investment. If half the money that was spent on the ridiculous NC500 was spent upgrading the trains then we could have a Highland line to be proud of.
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Fighting like ferrets in a sack
Back in Westminster, the SNP group of MPs are fighting like ferrets in a sack.
Their Sturgeon supporting leader Ian Blackford known by lobby hacks as Tweedle Dum has been forced out.
Sturgeon-sceptic Stephen Flynn has been elected to replace him.
All this is, of course, just a side show as more and more nationalists realise that the First Minister’s time is up.
Now that the Supreme Court has told us what everyone already knew – the Scottish Parliament has no power to call a referendum – Sturgeons plan to make the next election a referendum on independence looks doomed.
The First Minister never took into consideration that Scottish Labour would make such a spectacular revival under the leadership of ‘politician of the year’ Anas Sarwar.
Now that her policy looks doomed to failure the dirks are out for the great leader herself. The big question in Nationalist circles is will she go before she is pushed?
• Charlie Whelan is a former spokesman for Gordon Brown.
