Edinburgh, Glasgow and Highlands journey time enhancements projects: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/17/01772
Date received: 19 July 2017
Date responded: 17 August 2017

Information requested

• Any information relating to the average costs of routine journeys, such as Edinburgh-Glasgow, Inverness-Glasgow etc. on a) the railways and b) the buses, in comparison with the prices of a) each of these modes of transport in other European nations and b) the costs of these journeys if made by car in Scotland.

• Any information relating to the journey times between cities in Scotland at this current point, in comparison with the past and with the projected improvement in journey times scheduled with improvements to public transport infrastructure on-going or in the future, such as EGIP.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the specific information you have requested in respect of average costs of routine journeys, such as Edinburgh-Glasgow, Inverness-Glasgow etc. on the railways in comparison with the prices of;

(a) each of these modes of transport in other European nations and (b) the costs of these journeys if made by car in Scotland.

However as the information requested relates to the franchise operator, Abellio ScotRail, they may be able to help you. Abellio ScotRail can be contacted at;

Atrium Court 50 Waterloo St Glasgow G2 6HQ United Kingdom

The reasons why we don't have the information are explained below.

With regard to the same information relating to buses, the bus industry is not regulated, and the Scottish Government, through Transport Scotland, does not have powers to mandate fares or timetables. As such, you may wish to consider contacting the individual bus operators for this information.

With regard to the second part of your request, the tables below show the quickest inter-city journey times taken from the current May 2017 timetable (Monday – Saturday).

Origin	Destination	Fastest		Origin	Destination	Fastest
Glasgow	Edinburgh	49min		Dundee	Glasgow	1hour 20min
Glasgow	Stirling	26min		Dundee	Edinburgh	1hour 9min
Glasgow	Perth	55min		Dundee	Stirling	48min
Glasgow	Dundee	1hour 16min		Dundee	Perth	20min
Glasgow	Aberdeen	2hour 32min		Dundee	Aberdeen	1hour 10min
Glasgow	Inverness	3hours 13min		Dundee	Inverness	2hour 30min
Origin	Destination	Fastest		Origin	Destination	Fastest
Edinburgh	Glasgow	48min		Aberdeen	Glasgow	2hour 33min
Edinburgh	Stirling	41min		Aberdeen	Edinburgh	2hour 22min
Edinburgh	Perth	1hour 16min		Aberdeen	Stirling	2hour 1min
Edinburgh	Dundee	1hour 5min		Aberdeen	Perth	1hour 33min
Edinburgh	Aberdeen	2hour 18min		Aberdeen	Dundee	1hour 8min
Edinburgh	Inverness	3hour 20min		Aberdeen	Inverness	2hour 9min
Origin	Destination	Fastest		Origin	Destination	Fastest
Stirling	Glasgow	30min		Inverness	Glasgow	3hours 15min
Stirling	Edinburgh	45min		Inverness	Edinburgh	3hours 18min
Stirling	Perth	29min		Inverness	Stirling	2hours 34min
Stirling	Dundee	51min		Inverness	Perth	1hour 59min
Stirling	Aberdeen	2hour 4min		Inverness	Dundee	2hour 34min
Stirling	Inverness	2hour 41min		Inverness	Aberdeen	2hour 9min
Origin	Destination	Fastest
Perth	Glasgow	59min
Perth	Edinburgh	1hour 18min
Perth	Stirling	27min
Perth	Dundee	21min
Perth	Aberdeen	1hour 34min
Perth	Inverness	2hour 2min

Future journey time enhancements will be delivered by the following projects;

• Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) plans to deliver a 42 minute fastest journey time between Edinburgh and Glasgow by December 2018.

• Highland Main Line "phase 2" plans to deliver journey time reductions of around 10 minutes by March 2019.

Work is on-going to develop timetables associated with each project, with the detail to be made publically available 12 weeks before any timetable change date as per the standard industry process.

Longer-term aspirations are to further reduce Highland Main Line journey times to a fastest of 2 hours 45 minutes between Inverness and the Central Belt and an average 3 hours by 2025, Aberdeen Central Belt to deliver a 20 minute journey time saving by 2030, and Aberdeen to Inverness to deliver a 20 minute journey time saving and 2 hour journey time by 2030.

With regard to when the past is, to allow comparison I would need more specific information from you to be able to respond.

Reasons for not providing information

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because it does not hold details of the average costs of routine journeys, such as Edinburgh-Glasgow, Inverness-Glasgow etc. on a) the railways and b) the buses, in comparison with the prices of a) each of these modes of transport in other European nations and b) the costs of these journeys if made by car in Scotland. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses