If you plan on visiting Glasgow for over a week, I suggest visiting one of the other seven cities that Scotland offers. Last week I decided that I would visit a city I had not visited since the beginning of the Covid pandemic, this being Dundee.
I would be travelling from Glasgow with ScotRail, below are the details of my journey that you should know before reading the rest of this post,
- Date of journey – 15th April 2023
- Departure Station – Glasgow Queen Street
- Arrival Station – Dundee
- Service I travelled on – 1L63 Glasgow to Dundee
- Unit Number – 170426
- Price – £27.70 (16-25 railcard)
Departing from Glasgow
Dundee services depart from Queen Street and two types of services are available. You can either travel on an inter7city service that continues to Aberdeen or you can do what I did and travel on a local service that terminates in Dundee.
Queen Street station has been completely rebuilt and was designed to increase passenger flow and reduce congestion. Sadly in my experience this has not been very successful, mainly thanks to the limited Edinburgh service that is being operated meaning people have to wait longer between trains (update: ScotRail are restoring a 15 minute Edinburgh service on Saturdays from May 27th).
Thankfully the platform for my train was available well in advance and I could board and easily find a seat. My train was operated by one of ScotRail’s class 170 fleet, pictured below (the pic below is not my train, I forgot to get a pic!)
This particular train had three coaches, with first class available at both ends of the train. The conductor was on the platform greeting passengers and was more than happy to assist with any questions that people had before boarding.
The seats on these trains are very comfortable and have a good amount of legroom, however, do not expect much from the tray table which is on the small size. Despite the station being busy my train left on time and with plenty of spare seats available.
The Journey
This train stopped at Stirling, Bridge of Allan, Dunblane, Gleneagles, Perth, Invergowrie and Dundee with a scheduled journey time of 1 hour and 39 minutes.
Those who know their cities will have realised that this train serves four of the eight cities in Scotland (Glasgow, Stirling, Perth & Dundee). Having spent time in them all I can recommend any of them for visitors to Scotland, and each have regular services from Glasgow.
Our first stop in Stirling was uneventful, with the train arriving ahead of schedule and waiting six minutes before departing on time at 1245.
After Stirling the train continues north to Bridge of Allan before continung to Dunblane, this is where things get interesting.
A number of passengers attempted to leave the train here, but could not open the doors in the middle carriage. This meant they missed their stop and were getting an unexpected journey north. Despite this, they remained calm thanks to the professionalism of the conductor.
The conductor immediately made some phone calls and reported the incident and arranged for ticket acceptance for passengers to return south on their current tickets. Not only this, they also advised passengers to remain on the train until Perth, rather than the next station as doing so would mean they could get a faster train home.
Upon arriving into Perth the conductor was leaving the train and a colleague was taking over. Despite this they made sure to pass through the train and wait for all of the passengers who missed the stop at Dunblane.
They then walked the passengers over the footbridge to the correct platform to ensure they got home.
This shows the invaluable role that ScotRail staff play on trains, and highlights how quick thinking and clear communication goes a long way to easing passengers anxiety, and hopefully encouraging them to travel again.
The penultimate stop for this service was the quaint station of Invergowrie. Despite being seven minutes outside of Scotland’s fourth largest city it feels like it is in the middle of no where.
Upon leaving Invergowrie the train makes its way along the shore of the Tay river towards Dundee. Although this train does not cross the Tay Bridge (you need a train from Edinburgh to do that!) you do get a clear view of it from the train as you arrive.
We arrived into Dundee on time at 1350 and I made my way out of the station which was also completely rebuilt between 2014 and 2018 as part of the Dundee Waterfront Project.
The new station features both a ticket office and waiting areas for passengers, and is directly across the road from the V&A Museum which is likely to feature on any tourists itinerary for Dundee.
From here you can travel to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, London, Leeds and even Penzance in Cornwall.
My Final Thoughts
I enjoyed my journey will ScotRail, and if you get a nice day for the journey it certainly does not disappoint. However, despite the amazing on train staff and punctual performance of this journey I do feel the ticket price is on the high side.
I did not feel that this journey provided excellent value for money, and its worth remembering that I used a railcard, without this it would have cost me £42. If you decide to do this journey with children remember that ScotRail’s “Kids for a Quid” deal is available from any staffed station, or from the conductor on board if no ticket office was available.
George Nugent Travels 