Cup win for train travellers as ScotRail does drinks U-turn

The U-turn by Scotland’s main train operator comes two months after it reduced the cup size by one third, claiming staff had been unable to meet demand for hot drinks on long journeys.

That new approach to eking out supplies angered rail campaigners because it was accompanied by a price cut of only 10p – or 6 per cent.

Now ScotRail has decided on an obvious solution, which critics had suggested at the time: increase stocks.

The affair has prompted a transport think tank to question ScotRail’s catering strategy.

It is also the operator’s second volte-face over coffee provision. Five years ago, ScotRail replaced ground coffee with instant coffee, claiming passengers preferred it, only to abandon the move months later.

The train operator now serves freshly filtered Fairtrade Colum-bian coffee, and sells nearly 600,000 cups of tea and coffee a year – or some 1,650 a day.

It is now restoring the 12oz cups it replaced in January with 8oz ones, with the price remaining at £1.60 for three months.

This will then increase to £1.70 – the price before the size change.

There will be no change for first-class passengers, who have received free, 8oz cups for four years.

A ScotRail spokesman said: “Staff have advised there is still demand for larger hot drinks. As a result, we will provide these on our hospitality trolleys from 8 April.

“The current price will remain at £1.60 for a period of three months, before changing to £1.70, which is still great value for a cup of that size.

“In addition, arrangements are in place to have more hot water for coffee on board during long journeys.”

John McCormick, chairman of the Scottish Association for Public Transport, said: “It sounds like they do not have a long-term strategy for catering.

“Having decided on one thing, months later they decide on another. That does not sound like long-term planning.”

In January, Mr McCormick had suggested: “Perhaps more flasks for the longer-distance routes to Aberdeen and Inverness would have solved this.”

Ken Sutherland, of development campaign group Railfuture Scotland, welcomed ScotRail’s U-turn. He said: “They will make changes if they think the heat is on them and with the competition for a new franchise [from 2014] coming soon.

“It had seemed a bit of sharp practice to reduce the volume but not cut the price by as much.”

Richard Ardern, of the Friends of the Far North Line, who had described the decision to shrink cups as a catering cutback too far, was relieved at the change of heart.

He said: “They have made a good decision. It is what we wanted and they should be congratulated for it.”

Improving the quality of coffee on trains was ordered by former ScotRail managing director Mary Grant after Aberdeen-based FirstGroup won the franchise in 2004,

She is reported to have tasted a cup in ScotRail’s first-class lounge at Waverley station in Edinburgh, looked appalled and called to staff: “What on earth is this you’re serving? We’ll have to do something about this coffee.”