On Track.

Good news for local commuters.

"THE commute to Edinburgh for West Fifers should be a little easier this winter with the announcement of 500 extra seats on peak-time morning trains. Fife Circle passengers have long endured packed trains and standing room only but there will also be two new services and faster trains to the capital."

With extra services for the early birds amongst you Fifers.

"There will be two fast Edinburgh to Inverkeithing to Kirkcaldy services per hour and more seats on heavily used south Fife services and more early morning trains to the capital. These include two new services, the 5.55am from Markinch to Edinburgh via Dunfermline, arriving at Waverley at 7.06am, and the 6.27am from Kirkcaldy to Edinburgh via Dalgety Bay and Inverkeithing, which gets in at 7.16am."

Fife Cut Off.

At least by train, because of severe flooding near Edinburgh Waverley station caused by unseasonal rain levels.

But that didn't make it any easier for Fifers to get to their jobs in or just visit Edinburgh.

Bucket anyone?

Trainspotting.

Carnegie didn't realise this past time could be so dangerous.

"ARMED police swooped on a group of trainspotters who were using a high-powered camera near Gordon Brown's home, it was reported today. Police were concerned they were spying on the Prime Minister's North Queensferry house. But the group of six, who call themselves the Steam Boys, were in fact waiting on the top of a hill for a locomotive to cross the Forth Bridge."

But was Broon Fae Fife even at home at the time?

Hooray and Ooohhhh.

Carnegie notes that this year's £4.7 million pound road resurfacing work on the Forth Road Bridge has been completed ... hoorah .... only to then have major delays hit commuters using the Fife Circle railway line .... ooohhhhh.

"Thousands of rail passengers have faced a morning of delays and cancellations after a major signalling fault in Fife. Engineers have been working to try to fix the cabling problem, on a stretch of track between Markinch and Ladybank."

It seems to Carnegie that something isn't right somewhere. And while he is on the subject ... why is it that Dalgety Bay is served by a "rail halt" and not a railway station. As any Fifer using this station knows, often to their cost, the difference means that any train passing through DB doesn't have to stop if it is full, even if it supposed to. But surely in these days when DB boasts a population of over ten thousand it is time to correct this very strange transportation anachronism and give Dalgety Bay a fully paid up "railway station"?

Taking the strain?

Carnegie reads that Fife's pensioners are to lose out under plans by Fife Council to try and solve some of its financial problems.

"FIFE pensioners will have to pay £4 for return journeys to Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee to help cash-strapped Fife Council save £550,800. Previously, holders of the National Entitlement Card were eligible to use trains for 50p per single journey but councillors at last Thursday's transportation committee decided to raise the price from April 2008, to help the department out of the red.Council officials wanted to scrap cheap rail travel completely to encourage more people to get the bus – but these plans were shelved after elected members rejected the idea."

Carnegie can't really see that the difference is between rail and bus travel: they are after all both forms of public transport. And he has even more difficulty understanding how individual Councils, like Fife's, can mess about with the detail of what is supposed to be a national travel scheme for elderly people. Yet again Fife's pensioners are losing out because of a decision by Fife Council.

Fife Council raises half a million pounds by the change; Fife's pensioners pay half a million pounds MORE for the same level of service.