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Scotsman
3 days ago
- Scotsman
Delays threat to 4 hour Edinburgh-London rail journeys from congestion
LNER punctuality forecast to fall nearly 9 per cent Sign up for the latest news and analysis about Scottish transport Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Passengers expecting to enjoy faster Edinburgh-London journeys from December face being delayed if too many trains are squeezed on to the line. Analysis by Network Rail, which runs the 400-mile east coast route, showed that LNER's punctuality could fall by nearly 9 per cent because of congestion, and Lumo's by nearly 5 per cent. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad LNER plans to use its faster journeys to capitalise on increased awareness of the need to cut emissions by flying less. (Photo by LNER) | LNER LNER plans to run one of its two trains an hour between the capitals in four hours and eight to ten minutes compared to an average of four hours 30 minutes as part of a major timetable change in early December. The faster services will only stop at Newcastle and York compared to multiple stops by LNER's other trains. The long-awaited improvement is seen as vital to persuade more travellers to switch from planes to help cut emissions. However, LNER speeding up its trains by stopping fewer times and other operators planning to add more services on English sections means the line's resilience will approach 'breaking point', according to a Network Rail study reported by RAIL magazine. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Modelling by Network Rail showed LNER's punctuality could fall by 8.7 per cent. Transport Scotland has expressed concern at the potential impact on ScotRail services to East Lothian, while supporters of the Borders Railway fear its services could be hit as it also shares tracks with east coast line trains in and out of Edinburgh. LNER trains between Edinburgh and London Kings Cross were cancelled, after a person died on the railway tracks. | Lisa Ferguson/The Scotsman A spokesperson for the Scottish Government agency said: 'Whilst we support enhanced rail connectivity and faster journeys between Edinburgh and London, we have raised concerns with the UK Government about the east coast main line timetable changes from December. 'In particular, the impact on services to and from Scottish stations, service reliability, freight growth and the power supply capability for electric trains. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Ministers have secured a commitment from the UK rail minister to keep this under review.' Robert Samson, senior engagement manager for passenger watchdog Transport Focus said: 'Our research tells us that punctuality and reliability are amongst the top ten things that matter most to passengers. 'Any future changes made to timetables need to reflect that position to help make sure the right outcomes are delivered to drive high satisfaction scores for passengers.' An LNER spokesperson said: 'There is a positive sense of anticipation for what the new timetable will bring, helping us add thousands of extra seats per day, run more trains, and reduce the journey time between London and Edinburgh to close to four hours. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Network Rail's modelling doesn't mean that every train is going to be 8.7 per cent less punctual.' A Network Rail spokesperson said: 'The rail industry is currently developing a new timetable which is the next step in realising the benefits of years of investment across the route. 'The new timetable will be another positive step towards delivering a more reliable network that works for customers, communities and business and that will ultimately result in faster journey times, grow capacity and support economic growth.
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Scotsman
Delays threat to 4 hour Edinburgh-London rail journeys from congestion
LNER punctuality forecast to fall nearly 9 per cent Sign up for the latest news and analysis about Scottish transport Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Passengers expecting to enjoy faster Edinburgh-London journeys from December face being delayed if too many trains are squeezed on to the line. Analysis by Network Rail, which runs the 400-mile east coast route, showed that LNER's punctuality could fall by nearly 9 per cent because of congestion, and Lumo's by nearly 5 per cent. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad LNER plans to use its faster journeys to capitalise on increased awareness of the need to cut emissions by flying less. (Photo by LNER) | LNER LNER plans to run one of its two trains an hour between the capitals in four hours and eight to ten minutes compared to an average of four hours 30 minutes as part of a major timetable change in early December. The faster services will only stop at Newcastle and York compared to multiple stops by LNER's other trains. The long-awaited improvement is seen as vital to persuade more travellers to switch from planes to help cut emissions. However, LNER speeding up its trains by stopping fewer times and other operators planning to add more services on English sections means the line's resilience will approach 'breaking point', according to a Network Rail study reported by RAIL magazine. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Modelling by Network Rail showed LNER's punctuality could fall by 8.7 per cent. Transport Scotland has expressed concern at the potential impact on ScotRail services to East Lothian, while supporters of the Borders Railway fear its services could be hit as it also shares tracks with east coast line trains in and out of Edinburgh. LNER trains between Edinburgh and London Kings Cross were cancelled, after a person died on the railway tracks. | Lisa Ferguson/The Scotsman A spokesperson for the Scottish Government agency said: 'Whilst we support enhanced rail connectivity and faster journeys between Edinburgh and London, we have raised concerns with the UK Government about the east coast main line timetable changes from December. 'In particular, the impact on services to and from Scottish stations, service reliability, freight growth and the power supply capability for electric trains. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Ministers have secured a commitment from the UK rail minister to keep this under review.' Robert Samson, senior engagement manager for passenger watchdog Transport Focus said: 'Our research tells us that punctuality and reliability are amongst the top ten things that matter most to passengers. 'Any future changes made to timetables need to reflect that position to help make sure the right outcomes are delivered to drive high satisfaction scores for passengers.' An LNER spokesperson said: 'There is a positive sense of anticipation for what the new timetable will bring, helping us add thousands of extra seats per day, run more trains, and reduce the journey time between London and Edinburgh to close to four hours. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Network Rail's modelling doesn't mean that every train is going to be 8.7 per cent less punctual.' A Network Rail spokesperson said: 'The rail industry is currently developing a new timetable which is the next step in realising the benefits of years of investment across the route. 'The new timetable will be another positive step towards delivering a more reliable network that works for customers, communities and business and that will ultimately result in faster journey times, grow capacity and support economic growth.
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Politics
- Scotsman
Do we expect too much from public inquiries, like those into Edinburgh trams and Covid, in Scotland?
Experts say there should be a clearer focus on what public inquiries hope to achieve. Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Since 2007, they have cost the Scottish taxpayer £230 million, or about the same as the annual revenue expenditure of a smallish council. Significant sums of money are spent on public inquiries in the UK. More than half of this goes towards staff costs, including a sizeable chunk on lawyers. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad One of Edinburgh's trams, which were the subject of an extensive public inquiry. Picture: Lisa Ferguson Meanwhile, there are criticisms over the length of time taken to reach conclusions. The probe into the Edinburgh tram fiasco, for example, took nine years and cost £13m. By the time its report was published in September 2023, the extension of the tramline to Newhaven had already been designed, built and opened, and the scandal had largely blown over. Both the UK and Scottish Covid inquiries are huge undertakings, and the ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, announced in December 2014, has so far cost £95.3m. But do we expect too much? Is part of the problem simply that we expect too much of public inquiries? Holyrood's finance and public administration committee is scrutinising their cost effectiveness, and the evidence has provided much food for thought. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "In other jurisdictions, there is a clearer focus on what the purpose of an individual inquiry is,' Dr Emma Ireton, an associate professor at Nottingham Law School, told MSPs. 'We have had this in the past, but it's been drifting, and we've had massive mission creep." She added: "There is a better understanding in other jurisdictions. When an inquiry is convened, you will see from the press, from the statements and so forth, there is a clearer understanding. 'This inquiry is to inform policy reform. This inquiry is to change policy to make sure that this doesn't happen again'. Or, 'this is a forensic inquiry to get answers to what went wrong so that we can understand.' Or, 'this is to correct the public record'. "So there is a better understanding. We have created a problem that you don't see on the same scale elsewhere, because we are expecting inquiries to do all those things and also, on top of that, we're placing justice, redress, accountability, catharsis." Laura Dunlop KC, convener of the law reform committee at the Faculty of Advocates, told MSPs: "I'm actually very interested in what Dr Ireton says about us being clear from the outset - what actually is this inquiry seeking to achieve? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "And that's not about terms of reference. Terms of reference are an art in their own right and they've got longer and people spend a long time framing them and all the rest. "But the overarching question of 'what is this really for?', I think is very interesting and we perhaps need to do a bit more focused thinking on that." Kicking problems into the long grass James Mitchell, professor of public policy at the University of Edinburgh, has previously raised concerns that inquiries, while useful, can be a way of kicking problems into the long grass. There is also a sense that politicians and journalists sometimes reach for them as a panacea, setting unrealistic expectations. Lord Hardie, chair of the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry, said former first minister Alex Salmond promised a "swift and thorough" probe without any knowledge of what would be involved. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Lord Hardie, chair of the Edinburgh Tram Inquiry | PA A report by a committee of the House of Lords in 2024 highlighted 'a lack of clarity' as to what public inquiries can achieve. 'Inquiries sit in an uneasy space between politics and the justice system, while combining elements of both,' it noted perceptively. Why reform is needed It seems clear the existing system could benefit from reform. Dr Ireton suggests establishing a public inquiries hub, to act as a 'central repository of learning and procedural innovation, and to provide induction for new chairs and information on cost management'. Michael Clancy, director of law reform at the Law Society of Scotland, told MSPs: 'There ought to be some kind of Scottish inquiries unit, that the Scottish Government should establish.' He added: 'Why don't we have a bank of people who are skilled at the running of inquiries and who can be called upon to be able to service any future inquiry?' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Of course, more focused, narrowly-defined inquiries would inevitably spark rows over what gets included in the investigation and what does not. "We talk about the survivors and the bereaved as if they are a single, homogenous group, and they're not,' Dr Ireton, who co-authored the book The Practical Guide to Public Inquiries, said. Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon departs the UK Covid inquiry at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in January last year. Picture: Jeff| Getty Images "Some of them want very detailed answers. Some of them want a quick inquiry to make changes so that no other family has to go through what they've gone through. Others really want the public record corrected. "There is never consensus in any jurisdiction over what an inquiry should be, because these all conflict. And a decision has to be made at the very beginning, by the minister, looking at all these balancing, competing interests, in this situation what is needed from this inquiry? What do we need as the government to inform us going forward to address this matter of public concern? What is most pressing? Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad "So either you say all of those things and you accept that you're going to have massive inquiries - that probably by the time they report it's too late to bring about meaningful change, or you've had repeated incidents and so forth - or you accept that decisions need to be made, and some people will be disappointed and some people will be happy.'
Scotsman
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Robbie Williams, Edinburgh review: 'relentlessly likeable'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Robie Williams, Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh ★★★★ "Are my best days behind me?" asked Robbie Williams from the stage. "Am I still just the fat dancer from Take That?" It's been eight years since he last played this stadium, and although the several thousand people here clearly needed little reminding of a formative teenage crush and one of the most relentlessly good-at-his-job British pop stars of recent decades, at times it seemed like he was getting back into character. Robbie Williams performing at Murrayfield | Lisa Ferguson "I just spotted a fan I slept with back in the '90s," he said, and the camera zoomed in on a bloke in the crowd. Making fun of dated tabloid speculation about his sexuality continued later, as he appeared in a pink suit and feather boa for a bombastic New York, New York and a raw, sexy Kids alongside his entourage of female backing dancers. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Williams made constant reference to the apparently traumatising effect of being an ex-member of Take That, uncannily impersonating Gary Barlow and closing a mid-set acoustic medley with a version of Relight My Fire. For this he was joined by Tom Rylance of support band the Lottery Winners and Michelle McManus. Robbie Williams performs at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh | Lisa Ferguson He performed with arrogance and swagger, also an essential part of the brand, dashing off Let Me Entertain You, Old Before I Die and Rock DJ - the latter in ludicrous red feather coat and shades - early in the set, and drawing continual attention to his toned 51-year-old triceps. "I'm shitting hits all over the place," he proudly announced, and it was (not literally) true. Love My Life, Strong, Millennium, Come Undone and many more were remembered word-for-word by his audience.
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Business
- Scotsman
Dozens of Edinburgh Hibs fans pay tribute to Sir Tom Farmer at Easter Road Stadium
Sir Tom Farmer, who passed away peacefully at his home aged 84 on May 9, was known for founding Kwik Fit in 1971, his charitable work and philanthropy - and saving Hibernian FC from possible extinction in 1990 when he invested nearly £3 million to rescue the club from receivership. The Edinburgh businessman owned a majority stake in Hibs for 28 years, selling his interest in 2019 to US businessman Ron Gordon. Sir Tom presided over the historic Scottish Cup success in 2016, ending 114 years of hurt while also seeing two League Cup trophies during his time at the helm. Today, Wednesday May 28, Hibs fans and staff lined Easter Road Stadium to pay their respects to the Leith legend. Here are 14 pictures of the funeral procession. 1 . Sir Tom Farmer 1940 - 2025 Hibs supporters and staff paid tribute to Sir Tom Farmer outside Easter Road Stadium on Wednesday, May 28 | Lisa Ferguson Photo Sales 2 . Final farewell to Easter Road The procession passed by Easter Road Stadium | Lisa Ferguson Photo Sales 3 . Never forgotten Sir Tom Farmer saved Hibernian FC from possible extinction in 1990 | Lisa Ferguson Photo Sales 4 . Farewell to an old friend Hibernian Director Kit Gordon (right) arriving before the funeral procession | Mark Scates / SNS Group Photo Sales
