I'M A FAN of ScotRail.

Odd blemishes aside, they have managed to turn what was once a two-trains each-way BR afterthought of a service into a reliable, electric county backbone.

And, while their responsiveness to opportunities from the huge increase in East Lothian passengers has been sluggish, they have provided a new service to Dunbar and supported a local rail partnership to provide better facilities and information at stations.

So the announcement that they were going to provide more/bigger trains in Glasgow to service the Games seemed to be sensible and no big deal.

Some daytime services would be run by shorter trains but the timetable would be maintained and information would be available on the ScotRail website.

Unfortunately, the web page is hard to find and only lists those trains run with the normal 4-car class 380 electric trains.

Worse; those make up only six of the 20 trains each way.

In other words, 70 per cent of all trains are too short.

Had ScotRail assigned enough 3-car class 170 units, this might not have been too bad.

These are regulars of the Glasgow/Edinburgh express route and even have 1st-class seats.

But some scheduler with no idea of train loading on our line ran a 2-car Sprinter (clapped-out relics of the 1980s) for the 07:56 – the busiest commuter train we have.

The net result has been, instead of standing room on busier trains starting at Prestonpans, it starts at Drem.

Gripes from people unable to squeeze aboard or getting off to avoid a Black Hole of Calcutta in the summer heat are legend.

And it is not only commuters who suffer.

More than 500 airshow attendees came by train to find it already overcrowded with beach traffic and regular users.

What has exacerbated an already fraught situation is that only class 380 electrics have the acceleration to stick to timetable; overloaded 170/150 diesels cannot.

This results in delays until trains are turned at Drem to avoid shunting the delay onto the following train.

Thus the 16:12 ex-Waverley on Saturday turfed 150 people out at Drem to avoid similar delay to the following 16:43.

But passengers received no warning until it was too late to switch to the bus from Longniddry.

Normal service should resume next week.

Meantime, though train crews are generally helpful, they are never provided with current information, which goes a long way to mollify disgruntled folk.

But, until First drags their operations staff into the 21st century, they don’t deserve to have their ScotRail franchise renewed.