A NORTH QUEENSFERRY university professor says he has been forced to stop scheduling morning meetings because there’s “no guarantee” he will get to Edinburgh by train. 

Ignacio Vinuela-Fernandez, who teaches veterinary medicine at the University of Edinburgh, blasted ScotRail for their shoddy service on the Fife Circle line, stating that since he began commuting in 2006, “trains were worse than they had ever been”. 

He told the Press: “When you are trying to get the train to work in the morning there’s no guarantee you will get there. 

“You get no apology from ScotRail. You can claim compensation but, for example, all I got today when I complained was £1.79.

“That doesn’t even pay my money back for a ticket, never mind offer an apology. 

“I never organise meetings at the start of the day because you never know if you are going to get there.

“It’s a concern that fares are going up but my salary isn’t and that I’m not getting the service I should be to justify the rise. 

“You feel powerless.”

Ignacio has resorted to paying for taxis all the way into Edinburgh several times this year when there’s been chaos on the line. 

“My students can’t wait,” he said. “I have no choice but to get there and this is the first year I’ve had to resort to a taxi.

“The thing is, you feel lucky if you manage to get on a train, which is crazy when we’re standing there all squashed in like sardines. 

“If I worked for Abellio I would be embarrassed. 

“Travel is not a luxury, it’s necessity.”

Ales Hynes, ScotRail Alliance managing director, said: “We’re sorry to customers for the disruption to services in recent weeks. We know the impact this has on your day, and are working flat out to get things back to normal.

“The disruption has been caused by two key factors:

“1. Late delivery of new trains by Hitachi and Wabtec means the training that is required for our train crew, on new trains and new routes, has had to be compressed into a very short space of time. Day-to-day services have had to be cancelled to allow our people to take part in training.

“2. RMT industrial action meant there was an overtime ban for some of our people, which lasted for several weeks. This is now resolved but made the problem of train crew training worse. Training is ongoing so that we can get services back to normal and we can expect an improvement in the coming weeks. But while we continue to train our conductors and drivers some disruption will remain. We know this isn’t acceptable, and are sorry to customers about this. Every single person at the ScotRail Alliance is working hard to improve things for our customers as soon as possible.”