Fed up golf fans have criticised ScotRail for ‘poor’ services on the first day of the Open.
Passengers have accused ScotRail of not doing enough to provide adequate transport between Glasgow and Ayrshire after reports of queues of up to three hours for trains.
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The 152nd Open kicks off at Royal Troon today and the R&A anticipates more than 250,000 people will visit the small seaside town during the three-day event.
However golf enthusiasts, some of whom have travelled from across the world to watch stars such as Tiger Woods, Bob McIntyre and Rory McIlroy, are frustrated by the lack of trains to take them to their destinations.
Josh Jeffery said passengers trying to travel from the city centre to Troon were turned back.
“Good old ScotRail. The number of people getting on the Glasgow to Troon train is falling. Wish there was a way to know if there’s a major sporting event happening this week,” he tweeted on X.
He later shared a photo of long queues at Troon train station, saying: “These were the scenes at Troon station at 7pm last night. Total chaos @scotrail.”
Another angry rail user, David McCorquodale, also echoed his thoughts on X, tweeting: “Congratulations @scotrail …. completely miscalculated the number of people coming to @TheOpen as trains to Glasgow run every half hour, soon to be every hour.
“There are chaotic queues of golf fans who just want a transport system that works, but they have to wait 2-3 hours to get home.
“Until the public transport system is capable, it would not be recommended to hold another open golf tournament in Scotland.
“Please note @R&A golf fans deserve better than this and @scotrail appear unable to serve you. This is not a good advertisement for the country.
Richard Longmuai was going to work and making his usual journey, but he was unable to board the train.
He posted: “Absolute joke @scotrail. 3 trains from Glasgow to Ayr while @TheOpen is on?! I have to go to work and can’t get on. So embarrassing. What were you thinking?”
However ScotRail says it has introduced extra services to meet high demand. It says more than 14,000 passengers travelled on its trains on the first day and claims at peak times there were six trains an hour running between Glasgow and Ayrshire.
Phil Campbell, customer operations director at ScotRail, said: “With the Open Championship being held at Royal Troon once again, ScotRail is pulling out all the stops to support the event.”
“Customer demand for our services during yesterday’s Practice Day was around 50 per cent higher than any other Open we have supported, and extra services were added in the morning and evening to help reduce waiting times.
“The Open is now in full swing, with ScotRail adding extra services at peak times before and after each Championship day.”
“We are advising customers to allow extra time for their journey as services will be busy, and queuing systems will be in place.”
