7 Cities in 1 Day with ScotRail

Having had a poor experience travelling by train to York the previous week, I decided it would be a great idea to check out ScotRail’s Inter7City trains in their home territory – between Scotland’s 7 cities if you hadn’t worked it out yet.

There was just one small issue, it was to be a very long day, made worse by the fact I decided to do it just 9 hours before actually doing it – but that issue was my fault, nobody else’s.

Here was my planned itinerary for the day:

• 0616 Train to Glasgow Central
• 0810 Glasgow Queen Street to Perth (this would have also ticked off Stirling)
• 0953 Perth to Inverness
• 1427 Inverness to Aberdeen
• 1818 Aberdeen to Edinburgh (Ticking of Dundee as well)
• 2115 Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street

However, for this trip to work out, all of them had to operate, small delays were fine, but 1 cancellation could have ruined everything. I’ll break down each journey and give some details about each one.

0616 To Glasgow Central

There isn’t much to say about this one if I am being honest. It was operated by a Class 380 which was on-time, clean, had enough seats for everyone to space themselves out.

It was exactly what you would expect for a commuter train.

0741 Glasgow Queen Street to Perth (I’ll explain)

I know, this train wasn’t mentioned above, but the 0810 ended up being cancelled because of signalling problems. Thankfully for me, it ended up delaying this train, saving the day before it even properly started.

The train was what ScotRail brands as “Inter7City”, an upgraded High Speed Train.

It was spacious and again had more than enough space onboard for everyone to space out. Staff were friendly in answering questions and ensured that everyone who had connections knew of their onward journey options because of the delay.

I can’t complain about it really, it was another good journey.

0953 Perth to Inverness

Again, another of ScotRail’s Inter7City sets, like the last one though, this one was also delayed leaving Perth, however, it arrived into Inverness on-time.

The route between Perth and Inverness provides some fantastic views for those who like to watch the world go by from the window, this being just one example for the view.

The views are spectacular regardless of what side of the train you sit on! The upgraded HST units that operate most of these services also have big windows meaning you can see even more out of the window.

However, my biggest surprise of this journey was I didn’t see a single member of staff on this journey of over 2 hours. Seems to be if you travel on a train for more than 2 hours the staff just disappear.

1429 Inverness to Aberdeen

This journey was operated by ScotRail’s Class 170 and Class 158 fleets, picture below for context once again.

The class 170 that I travelled in was comfortable and had enough seating available. The train has an accessible toilet and space for wheelchairs and a ramp is available for passengers who really need it.

Wi-Fi was available and worked throughout the journey. It is worth noting though that catering is not available on any ScotRail service due to the pandemic, so bring a drink and snack if you are doing this journey, particularly in summer.

Small items of luggage can be stored in the racks above the seats, large bags will need to go in dedicated luggage racks in each coach, these are rather small though.

1818 Aberdeen to Edinburgh

This journey was operated by my absolute favourite train company LNER, that was sarcastic for people who couldn’t tell, or haven’t read my LNER post.

I know what you might be thinking, George, surely you got a window seat this time, having specifically asked for one and being told by the all knowing seat map that it wasn’t a limited view seat, well think again, because I got completely shafted yet again.

2 Hours and 32 Minutes of staring at a wall yet again, I ain’t mad I promise, just disappointed. If you get Coach A seat 50, book another ticket.

I have nothing else to say about this journey as I do not want to rant about LNER again.

The last 2 journeys home.

I was so tired by this point I have nothing to say about the last 2 trains of the day.

I do remember both being on-time and staff being friendly on both services if that helps.

Conclusion

YES you can do all of Scotland’s 7 Cities in 1 day, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Spend the night in one of them to refresh and recharge.

Overall ScotRail did pretty well today, just seeing more staff around would have been nice, or introducing some form of catering onboard like other companies that shall no longer be named have.

All of my tickets were purchased the night before with a 16-25 railcard, with the total cost coming to £71, you can’t really complain about that can you?

The Inter7City trains provide more seats and more comfort to passengers over the trains they replace, but they are still diesel operated which isn’t great for the environment.