This passenger was going mad over ScotRail delay - but should have been told the full story

More information over cause of disruption could have averted stress-inducing rant

Despite covering transport for a living, I can get as stressed and anxious as the next passenger when caught up in travel disruption.

However, I’m perhaps less wound up about the thought it might happen than some because, in my experience, public transport is pretty reliable, especially trains.

ScotRail trains are often delayed by external factors | John Devlin/The Scotsman

I don’t often bother to check my train is running or on time before leaving the house, with the first I know about problems when spotting the delay on a station departure screen.

That happened on Saturday when I was heading from Glasgow to Dundee to take part in a sporting event. The train on which I was booked was cancelled, and the next one left late and became increasingly delayed because it had to take a longer route than normal.

I find rail passengers are generally a pretty stoical lot, especially if they are kept informed, and, if possible, on the move, even if their journey is being significantly disrupted.

That was the case with most of my fellow travellers, except one, who very loudly and continually ranted at anyone who would listen around them about the situation.

They were clearly stressed at being late for a family rendezvous, but that didn’t excuse their behaviour, especially as the conductor updated us regularly on progress.

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What seemed to particularly upset the passenger was the fact the disruption had been caused by a broken down train, prompting them to noisily voice their prejudices about ScotRail - ad nauseam.

However, I wonder if they would have had a different attitude if they’d been told it wasn’t a ScotRail train that had broken down.

It was, in fact, a freight train that was the cause. But this, I think, significant detail wasn’t conveyed to passengers, despite being displayed on the ScotRail Journeycheck web page.

So often, rail disruption is not the fault of the train operator, but a myriad of reasons such as track, signalling and overhead wire faults, trespassers, suicides, obstructions, extreme weather and lineside fires.

I’d like to think that with a little more information, that passenger would have been less inclined to make everyone else’s journey even more fraught.