Richard Leonard MSP: Planned ScotRail changes could deter passengers using Falkirk area stations

Locally it’s a mixed picture, with a proposal for new and extended Sunday opening hours at Falkirk High and Polmont stations to be introduced next year.

Under ScotRail’s original proposition the opening hours at these stations were due to be axed, so it is good that a campaign of pressure inside and outside Parliament has led to a reversal.

But that makes it all the more unfathomable to learn that at the same time as some booking office opening hours will increase, the ticket offices at Larbert and Falkirk Grahamston stations are due to be cut.

The booking office at Larbert remains closed on a Sunday, and evening opening hours are to be cut altogether at Falkirk Grahamston during the week and at weekends.

The railway is a public service. ScotRail is in public ownership. It has got a pivotal role in our quest to reach our net zero carbon emission targets, by getting people out of their cars and onto public transport.

Yet this move will not just deter women, older passengers and those with disabilities from catching a train. It will deny some people access altogether.

That’s why when I raised my concerns about this announcement in Parliament with the Minister who signed this decision off, I asked her to publish the equality impact assessment of the suggested changes.

This is a general requirement, but in the case of ScotRail, now in public ownership, it is a statutory duty.

And as we now own it, this becomes a question of democracy, transparency and accountability as well.

The railway trade unions are about to enter a 12-week consultation period, because the workers on the frontline must have their voice heard, and their jobs defended.

We can expect there to be a campaign to save our ticket offices led by the RMT union in the coming weeks. Backed by disability and pensioner rights groups, they will certainly have my full support.

I hope that they will secure yours too.