North of the Border The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track

This programme contains some strong language

Britain's railway. The oldest and one of the busiest in the world.

-It's OK.

-Just slow down. Slow down.

Surely this is illegal, to be packed in like this!

A huge network under constant pressure...

Absolutely mental today.

-No driver.

-No driver?

-Come on, guys look for the driver and go!

..where anything and everything...

Start tampering it, son.

..can mean delay and chaos for thousands.

Backs against the wall.

He's got a suicidal female on board.

Train now 90 late, owing to hitting a pheasant.

I've heard everything now!

Filmed over a year across the nation...

-That one, fella.

-That one? Cheers.

-The seat next to't banana.

..we go behind the scenes of an industry

we all love to complain about...

-Do you want a hand?

-That's 323.50.

Oi!

..with the railway people determined to keep Britain moving.

To infinity and beyond!

Into battle.

That's us now going into Scotland. Does it feel different?!

Scotland, one of Britain's most challenging networks.

Beautiful, isn't it?

More than 200,000 passengers travel on over 2,000 trains every day...

If you could step in a touch, please.

..with ScotRail running services within the country

and long-distance operators Virgin

and East Coast Trains connecting England to Scotland's major cities.

What I've been told today is utter, utter rubbish.

Political decisions about the rail network here

are made by the Scottish, not British, Government.

You're up against it all the time - the weather, time...

-This is a network of extremes.

-Whoa!

And now, with winter months approaching, the railwaymen

and women of Scotland are entering their toughest season.

It's an ominous cloud. It's got some snow in it, I reckon.

Trudy is one of only two female drivers on East Coast Trains'

Scottish routes, linking London with Aberdeen.

Start slowing down.

You try and do everything as gracefully as possible.

Anybody can just thrash it up and down the country

but I like to think that I've given everybody a smooth, comfortable ride.

If an ex-boyfriend gets on, "Grr!"

SHE LAUGHS

There's trolleys that can be knocked over, the chef'll hate you forever.

Scottish smoked salmon for you.

Enjoy your breakfast, thank you very much.

I used to be a window dresser, so I was watching everything going past

me and thinking, "Oh," and then I saw the advert in the paper and it said,

"InterCity - come and drive our high-speed trains,"

and it was BR days, and I said to our lad,

"I'd love to drive a train - I've driven lots of other things,

"I'd love to drive a train."

And then I just turned the page and he goes, "What are you doing?"

I said, "They don't let lasses drive trains, do they?"

And he said, "Let's have a look." And in the smallest

writing at the bottom - I actually thought it was a squashed fly -

it said, "Equal opportunities - women may apply."

So I went for it. And I got it and I was absolutely thrilled.

Just three with banana, yeah?

No matter how you drive, if you get off the front

and you're a woman, or when I was pregnant, they were like, "Aah!"

I have had people not get on who've seen me at the front.

It's unbelievable.

And their wives will come up to me later and go, "I just left him!

"I just left him there and he had to get the next one!"

What does this button do?!

Eject fuel! Thankfully, there isn't that button here!

Now we're coming into Edinburgh.

Yay! Alive!

SHE LAUGHS

How are you doing?

-Just going there?

-Aye.

Edinburgh Waverley station.

Ronnie Park has been helping passengers

here for the past 30 years.

Next one down. First coach.

It's Friday afternoon, and Ronnie's busiest time of the week,

when both commuters and tourists flood the station.

Most of them can't speak English,

but you can help them with sign language, anything,

or take them across to the platform, tell them what they need.

Universal language, "The bar's round that way!"

That's it!

Most people, they're going on holiday or visiting their relatives.

It's up to me to get them on the right place on the train and smile.

Let's see what you've got here. Yeah, first class, yeah, just here.

Yes? First class.

That's fine.

-Heavy.

-That's fine.

-You want something?

-No, no, that's fine.

-You want your bag?

-One of my three suitcases.

-Fine.

No problem.

I think when they come into the station, they've been hit

by the Men In Black zapper, and they have no memory at all, some of them.

Honestly, "Where's my train?" "Well, where are you going?"

And then you've got the ones that come running along,

just missed their train, and they've got their Burger King bag.

That burger's just cost you £100 to get to London, pal.

Be there on time!

HE BLOWS THE WHISTLE

Train doors are locked, sir.

Over on the other side of the country,

on the beautiful West Highland Route,

it couldn't be more different.

This single-track railway weaves past Ben Nevis

and into the mountain ranges beyond, before coming to an end at the sea.

Many of its remote stations are request stops,

with trains only stopping if a passenger flags them down.

Beautiful, eh?

This is a lovely part of the world, eh?

I've never, ever liked working inside, you know?

1315 - one, three, one, five - over.

With just three services a day, engineer Ian McKinnon has plenty

of time between trains to carry out his weekly inspection of the track.

Right. And we're off.

Throw this away.

Right, what we've got here is a dead hide, and what we usually do,

if we've got time, drag it off...

It'll probably stink, but anyway...

It's stuck to the thing there.

See, oh, it's all stuck. So I'll just throw it off, clear the line.

And probably come back maybe later on when we've got time and bury it.

And that's basically it.

In the meantime, it's clear of the track there.

It's horrible, stinking.

It's probably been there for a week, cos we walk this once a week...

..and it's probably been there all week.

It's quite a horrible job, but you've got to do it.

You ever tried venison?

Very strong.

Compared to ordinary meat it's very strong, yeah. But lovely.

That's what they call a bothy.

It's just basically a wee shed for you to shelter from the storms.

This is probably one of the oldest ones we've got around here.

Luxury, aye!

HE LAUGHS

Keeps you dry. Sit here and have your tea.

You look forward to seeing one of them

when you've been walking for about eight mile! HE LAUGHS

Yeah!

Much of the 2,700 miles of track across Scotland

cuts through the Highlands.

A beautiful but punishing landscape to run trains on.

Over on the Inverness route, the steep gradients

and often icy temperatures make braking dangerously unpredictable.

Right. Cheers, mate.

-That's us got permission to start, gentlemen.

-OK, it's all systems go!

HE LAUGHS

As in the rest of the UK, Network Rail is

responsible for the upkeep of the tracks.

This local engineering team work the night shift on a Kubota,

a specially-converted farm vehicle

that spreads a gloopy solution onto the rails to improve adhesion.

It's just pretty much liquid sand.

Flick the on switch, starts running,

and then it gets pumped out into these pipes, out the pipes...

..onto the track. It gets pretty cold!

Minus four, but that's standing still!

So we're jumping in that, driving at 20 mile an hour.

Obviously, the further we go up, it gets colder again,

and you boys will see that for yourselves.

It's your hands that get it worst.

Every night during winter months, Michael and Alec drive

the Kubota through the highest part of the route to Inverness.

It's cold up here.

It takes them two hours to cover just 20 miles of track.

Still trying to climb at the moment, that's why we're going so slow.

The top of the rails is just covered in ice.

The wheels are just spinning. It's quite hard to get traction.

I suppose this is why we're here,

so the trains don't have the same problem.

I've got a wife,

I've got two young kids as well.

So there's a lot of unsociable hours.

At the end of the day, this sort of thing keeps me in a job,

so I'm happy enough to do it.

It can be really tough, aye.

It becomes a way of life. I've been doing night shifts since 1995.

I'm allergic to daylight!

HE LAUGHS

That's us at the top of the hill there.

There's your sign there, Druimuachdar Pass.

The highest point on the rail network, there you go.

There's a wee sign for you!

I can think of worse places to be!

I can think of better as well!

THEY LAUGH

As easy as that.

The railways keep running.

Glasgow's suburban rail network is the UK's largest outside London.

And Glasgow Central is Scotland's busiest station.

-Have you got seat reservations?

-No, there was no reservation.

As well as being ScotRail's hub for the commuter belt between Glasgow

and Edinburgh, this is the starting point for Virgin Trains,

travelling from Scotland into England on the West Coast Main Line.

It's quarter past.

A peak-time return ticket from here to London can cost more than £300.

Sir, are you aware of the problems?

You're not going to be there for six.

Today, there are severe delays for anyone catching a train south.

A freight train went through the overhead wires.

Between here and Carlisle, faulty overhead lines have come down,

and no services can run while they're being fixed.

Are you OK, ladies?

-We need to get to Carlisle.

-He's just told us we can't.

'Here is a passenger announcement.

'Due to severe disruptions on the West Coast Main Line, replacement

'bus services are operating from Gordon Street to Carlisle.'

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Anyone for Carlisle? Carlisle?

Replacement coach services are being laid on by Virgin

to get passengers to Carlisle.

It means adding an extra hour to journey times.

-How long will it take to Carlisle?

-About two hours, yeah.

I'm going to miss my train. I'm going to miss the one at Preston as well.

I'm not going to get home till 10pm.

Just got some water for the customers in case they're thirsty,

cos obviously there'll be no on-board shop.

It's the least we can do, really.

A lot of them want a whisky, they don't want water.

SHE CHUCKLES

I've had a request for that a few times this morning.

Marie Claire usually works in the ticket office.

Today, she's been drafted in to help with the delayed passengers.

There's a bottle of water for you, OK?

The overhead lines are all down.

A freight train has brought down the overhead lines causing chaos,

unfortunately. Sorry, I'll just get by.

You'll get your connection time when you arrive into Carlisle

and they'll let you know, sir, OK? There you go, there's a bottle of water.

This is the bus for Carlisle, that's the queue for it there.

-You're kidding me on.

-Oh, no, we won't get on it.

We've done this journey since my grandchildren were born and at

the end of the day, what I've been told today is utter, utter rubbish.

We have more buses en route.

"En route" is no good to me, I don't want to be getting into Wales

only to find I'm stuck till four in the morning till the next train.

We'll just get the step lowered for you.

'I used to work in the police as a 999 operator'

so it's nice to speak to people face-to-face.

Then, other times, it's not nice. You can't hang up on them!

Not that you hang up anyway.

You've guaranteed that I'm going to be getting home

-and won't get stranded.

-Yeah, I have guaranteed that.

So what do I do when I get stranded, then?

If the worse comes to the worst, we'll get you a taxi.

-Thank you, pleased to hear it. Thank you.

-No problem.

You don't take it personally,

otherwise you'd get upset an awful lot of times.

You don't have time to take yourself off to a quiet corner

and scream, you just get on with it.

Just to let you know that the 14.40 replacement bus does not have a

toilet on the bus. The driver's asking, do you want them

to do a ten-minute stop at Abington services, over?

-RADIO:

-We've not had this problem before.

Roger, OK, I'll pass that on.

If you want to maybe shout out to them when it's coming up that

if anybody needs the toilet, you'll do a specific stop,

but he's saying, "Not really."

-Do you want a bottle of water?

-I've got one, thanks.

-OK.

Do you want a bottle of water?

-Would you like some water?

-You can shove your water up your arse.

Just telling me to put the water where I don't want to put it.

Or maybe he knows there's no toilet.

50 miles down the track,

Network Rail's engineering teams are trying to fix the problem.

With northbound trains still running during the day,

they can only do the work at night.

Obviously, it'd be a lot easier

if it was better weather conditions, but unfortunately,

because we're in Scotland we get this most of the time.

All year round. No summer in Scotland!

Up to the top pole again, Andy.

A mile of overhead cables needs replacing, in high-speed winds.

All these cantilevers have got to be replaced with new cantilevers,

so we're just taking all the stuff off the old ones,

putting new insulators on, new tubes.

And then we'll put it up and tie it back ready for the wire.

Danny's damaged that rope up there, haven't you?

Make sure that's not flapping about, David. Tuck it in some way.

Whoa.

-SNAP

-Whoa!

Ooh. Fucking hell!

This is one of the biggest we've had in a good seven or eight years.

It's a big one.

As it was their faulty cables that caused the delays,

Network Rail is facing big fines.

It's a lot of money. They're talking millions of pounds.

That'll do.

With the supports that hold the cables also damaged,

it looks like it'll be several more days

before the lines are back in full working order.

At Edinburgh Waverley, services are running normally.

We were supposed to be catching that

and then changing at Newcastle for Sheffield, so where do I have to go?

Can you tell me?

6 to 14, fitters.

For the calm to continue,

Ronnie and the team have to meet exacting deadlines.

Could you come down to Platform Two, coach Echo with your plunger, please?

-RADIO:

-OK, I'll be there now.

-Cheers.

SPLASHING

Sorted!

HE LAUGHS

The cleaning team have just ten minutes to work through

the train and replace the water before its onward journey.

HE WHISTLES "RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES" BY RICHARD WAGNER

We have to go quick on the next one, I don't know if it's arrived yet.

You can see already, people on the platform, waiting for the train.

Parisian Patrice Lechsner joined the team 18 months ago.

Hello, hello. How are you? You look fine like that.

-Hello!

-Oh, yes.

-Claire's hen party, wow!

-Don't you worry.

Very nice. Lovely blonde. Hee-haw, hee-haw!

They seem to have fun already.

HE CHUCKLES

My God! They like to party, yes?

That's the proof, huh? They drink a lot in UK!

HE LAUGHS

And first class need, of course, particular attention.

Make sure the Union Jack is right.

I came to Edinburgh first to improve my English, so I started a job in...

..in the railway station and I met my wife at the station.

My wife is working in the railway as well

and she's not working just right now, because she's a mum now.

There we go. Trapped in Scotland!

I have to say when you take the French train or the TGV,

it's superb.

Two and a half hours to cross the whole of France,

it's like going from Edinburgh to London in, yeah...

..two hours and a bit, when it takes four to five hours.

It's a bit miserable, but whatever the weather is,

we have to make sure things are clean.

But it's good to go back sometimes, with some cheese and wine.

All this is our trophies, just for one train.

Did you find your ticket?

Is it in one of the bins?

Do you know where Coach F might be?

It's hard to say, huh? I'd like to help you, but...

It's not worth looking. OK, thank you.

Poor guy. No chance!

I didn't want to tell him!

Next one.

This is terrible, huh?

Oh...

Some people are...

Got a strange approach to hygiene.

I used to work for Audi in the motor trade, 60 hours a week,

which was a lot.

My priority just now is my family,

and now I've got plenty of time for the kids.

First time I took that job, there was a manager who asked me,

"Are you sure you don't want to do a few days first,

"because it's quite a degrading job?" I was, "What?!"

Nothing is degrading, why not?

I feel relaxed and, well, I enjoy that for the moment.

Money is not everything.

Excuse me.

Patrice earns just over £9 an hour for his shifts.

Smell that, son?

It's like gasoline.

Smells like victory!

Every train is a victory, you know?

Job done!

Scotland's East Coast Main Line connects Edinburgh with Aberdeen.

WOMEN LAUGH Thank you.

Its high-speed trains start the journey in London

and change drivers at Newcastle before heading north.

So this is where I come and sign on.

Driver Trudi Tate arrives at midday to start her shift.

We used to have a train crew supervisor who would give you

your work and tell you everything that was happening,

but now, it's quite sad, really, we're on our own.

We sign on with the phone, remotely, and then...

These are anything extra that I've been given, paperwork-wise.

This is my late notice case,

so I've got to check here if anything new has happened.

Naughty signals, naughty drivers.

So much can go wrong if you're travelling on the train into work.

It's a poor excuse when you say, "I'm late for work because I used the train to come in!"

You, you know, think ahead a lot of the time of the things that could go wrong.

And we've got a lot of backup, you know?

I've got a car, but I've got a motorbike if it doesn't start

and I've got lots of different ways I can come in to work.

And I set off early, you know? Just so I know I'm going to get here.

There's a few times I've got here, like, in the snow,

two minutes before my train.

And your heart's like this, cos it's only your fault,

you know what I mean?

Hi! Right, OK.

This is my office.

SHE CHUCKLES

Yeah, it's filthy!

SHE LAUGHS

I think it's lovely round here.

You don't get sick of it, because it is so nice.

So we'll soon be coming up to Morpeth, which is the scene of

quite a few derailments, so we have to go 50 round there.

That's where the boss stands with a speed gun quite a lot.

Only because there is a good pub round the corner!

HORN BLARES

I like going fast.

But, you know, we really have to be sensible, because if you

speed on the railway it's going to be a disaster, isn't it, you know?

You can't...

You mustn't do it. One, for the engines and, two, you know...

You'll end up in a field, and that's never good.

There's a lot of forms to fill in when you come off the track!

SHE LAUGHS

East Coast has a fleet of 43 high-speed trains,

each one travelling up to 1,000 miles a day.

Some of the fleet are nearly 40 years old

and, like all trains, keeping them going means regular maintenance.

For that, they're sent to Craigentinny Depot near Edinburgh.

They do everything here, from cleaning

and refuelling to complete overhauls of the fleet.

A few to do here, eh?

I've already checked the luber.

Fraser McVeigh is in charge of one of the maintenance teams here.

This is Scott Mackay, senior electrician

-as you can see by the look of him.

-Very senior!

A bit older than everybody else in the shed!

BELL RINGS

Jason, our English ethnic friend, only Englishman in the sheds.

It's the first time you'll ever see him doing anything.

Down!

Some of these locos are between 30 and 40 years old.

You have one of these on each side, one pushing, one pulling,

getting used up and down the country constantly.

Seven days a week.

They've stood the test of time, and we're just trying

to keep them going that bit longer.

I'm changing a fuel loading valve.

If this valve fails,

you have 5,000 litres of diesel pouring onto the track.

Stretchy! Come here, son! Show your face!

You've got your light, is your light on in there?

See him in there, working away?

What's life like down under a train?

It is a bit grotty, you know what I mean? And minging.

But you just have to get on with it. Do as best you can.

You've got oil and dirt, dead animals,

the brake dust is the main thing, as well, brake dust.

All modern trains have tanks to hold toilet waste,

but on these older models, the sewage is flushed straight out.

Well, this is the waste pipe for all the toilets.

Obviously when they flush, it's coming out, it's hitting the track,

it's going everywhere.

Toilet paper, human excrement, urine, it's just all stuck together.

As you can see.

Human waste. If the train's going by, 125 miles an hour,

if you're standing outside, always face away from the rolling

traffic, because you don't want this on your face!

Trust me.

That's why you wear gloves.

HORN BLARES

Craigentinny's latest recruit is 20-year-old apprentice Toni.

It's just a bit slow in opening.

I lost all my nails within a week of starting here, and I had lovely nails.

I used to be able to paint them, French manicured them and all that.

No, not any more. I don't have any more.

And I can't have nail polish on them cos it chips.

Is it just coming off with them two bolts, aye?

Them two pushing into there.

Three weeks after starting here there was a big coolant leak,

and I got blue coolant all over my hair.

And I was blonde at the time. So you can imagine.

I had green hair for about a week afterwards, but...

It's all part of the job, I guess!

You can have a couple of days off, Christmas and Boxing Day.

Well, the trains do, we don't.

We do our utmost to try and keep these things on the track

and keep everything running and everybody happy.

Mrs Jones and all the rest, travelling on the trains,

sitting in the quiet coach or in the first-class, eating and drinking,

with your Wi-Fi on.

This is the real railway.

At Glasgow Central, Virgin passengers are enduring

their third day of bus replacement services.

The next replacement bus service is outside.

It's waiting, it's not going to leave until it's full.

Bad weather has hampered repairs to the damaged overhead cables

on the West Coast Main Line.

CHILD CRIES

They've been warned because they've seen the news,

it's been over the news, and they've had travel updates on the internet

as well that the line is down, so they'll be expecting it, I would presume.

There you go.

I don't know exactly what time you're going to get into Carlisle at.

-Do we get a refund of any sort?

-Certainly, you know?

There'll be a claims compensation form that you'll be able to fill out.

-We're getting there, we're getting there. As always.

-HE CHUCKLES

So far, the problems have led to 120 cancelled trains, and the

knock-on effect has caused delays to services as far south as Bristol.

HORN BLARES

Here's our baby!

With preparation works complete, a specialist team and train

have arrived to finally install the new overhead cables.

One of only two such trains in the UK,

it's had to travel up from the south of England.

We're the OCR team, we're rapid response for all major incidents

from Glasgow to Euston, basically.

We are the experts, yeah.

Operated by a crew of 30 technicians,

it can replace 1,500 metres of wire every four hours.

We are going to replace the wire that carries the electric using the train.

Get on, get it done, get home safe.

-Who's in charge here?

-Me.

-Me.

THEY LAUGH

We don't know ourselves who's in charge!

They put me with him, cos he's old,

-so I have to do all the work, and he just stands there.

-Hey!

You can tell he's a bit senile!

THEY LAUGH

There's no room for error when installing this heavy copper wire,

which has to be hung at full tension.

If that comes off, it could take your head off.

If it does, it will definitely kill you.

Just got to watch what you're doing.

Before I did this I worked down t'pit for 20 year, 21 years,

and I've been in this job now for about 12 year.

No comparison to working down pit to this job. It were horrible down t'pit.

Working in your underpants in 110 degrees?!

After three nights working, 25,000 minutes of delay

and a cost of £800,000 to Network Rail,

the West Coast Main Line is back up and running.

And Virgin's services from Glasgow Central return to normal.

Just go straight on. It's OK, just go on ahead through, you're fine.

You don't need your ticket.

I'll sleep well tonight!

Although the Scottish Government provides £700 million

in annual subsidies, the heavy cost of structural repairs

and maintenance to the railways is ultimately passed on to passengers

in higher ticket fares.

-Are you needing a hand here?

-Yes, thank you.

-Thank you.

-Just wanted to hold my hand, eh? Cheers, now!

Thank you.

MEN CHEER

Monday afternoon at Edinburgh Waverley.

-If you try Coach G for Golf, that's normally a bit quieter.

-Thank you.

Right, no problem.

Well, we went to Dundee and we asked for the...

At East Coast Trains customer reception, Pauline Lamont

and her colleagues deal with passenger enquiries.

In here you get all sorts.

I think yesterday Gavin got somebody that was covered in blood,

they'd fallen and, you know, dripping blood everywhere.

Thank you.

Every kind of question you want to get asked,

down to, "Where's the nearest sex shop?"

SHE CHUCKLES

"What's your favourite restaurant?", you know, they want to go for something to eat.

And you're just meant to be telling train times and platforms.

-Gracias.

-Bye.

-Bye!

Sometimes people are just lonely

and they just want somebody to chat to, you know?

So they come in here an hour before their train,

ready to go, and then they sit and chat.

My wife's just left her bag on the 10.27 to Aberdeen.

So you said it was on the overhead, sir?

-I believe it was on the overhead, yes.

-Right, no problem.

Hello, there, Donna.

I've got a gentleman that's just appeared in my office.

His wife's left her Radley bag in Coach B for Bravo.

Are you OK? Can you maybe help Gavin?

While Pauline tracks down another lost bag, her colleague

Norrie McLeod looks out for his more vulnerable passengers.

We'll get you seated in first, then we'll get your luggage and everything else on.

-Oh, thanks.

-Lovely job.

Take care now, bye-bye.

But it's not just the railways that keep Norrie busy.

He's also a priest for the Celtic Church of Scotland.

I was ordained a priest in 19...

Early '90s.

I'll just put the ramp down. Two ticks.

When I'm not working here on a weekend I'll go and take a wedding

or a funeral or something like that.

That's us.

People that meet me don't... Well, if I don't say to them, they don't realise,

cos I can swear like the rest of them.

Welcome to Edinburgh!

MEN CHEER

They're not going on this train, are they?

-They're probably coming off it.

-Because I've...

I've had it with drunken men on trains.

I let it go the last time, but I won't let it go this time.

-I'll take this up for you.

-Thank you. Very helpful.

They've got it? That's brilliant. Right, bye.

-Right, the guard will be able to give it to you.

-Okey-dokey.

-Thank you very much.

-That's fine, thanks very much. Bye.

-Thank you very, very much.

-Not a problem.

-See you again.

-Cheers!

-This is an education, sitting here!

-I know, eh?

-Very, very good.

-You can learn all sorts!

-I think that was marvellous. What a relief!

TANNOY: '.. for the 15.08 First ScotRail service...'

Monday evening rush hour is just beginning.

In East Coast's control room,

they're keeping a close eye on events south of the border.

We've got overhead line problems at Durham, which delayed services.

We had a broken rail at Newark Northgate,

which has delayed services by up to two and half hours,

so our rush hour's going to be affected. We'll be very, very busy.

We can handle one thing that goes wrong.

When two things go wrong, that's when we get the pile-up of passengers.

If you could step in a touch, please.

We've been on that train for hours.

-Is that to get the money back?

-Yes.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

I only wanted for the aliens to come down and abduct us

-off that train...

-HE LAUGHS

and it would have been complete!

It will come up. We don't know before, unfortunately.

With it being late, it can go into any platform.

There's two choices, you can either try and get on the five o'clock...

-We'll have to, we're meeting people at the other end.

-..or the 5.30 as well.

Just trying to explain to people what the problems are

and the next step

is to try and get people onto the next available trains.

I shall go on to the five, I assume, with this one?

-That is the next available, yeah.

-OK, and this isn't valid any more?

What do I do? Scramble for a first-class seat?

Your ticket's still valid but your seat reservation isn't.

So, yeah, you're correct in saying that you will need to try

and find an unreserved seat.

Guys, could you do me a favour

-and just wait on the platform for an extra few moments?

-All right.

-Once we get most of this mess cleaned up then we'll get back on.

-OK, no problem.

The decision to not put reservations on it

is usually made by Control in advance...

just within regards to time constraints.

You have to deal with the inevitable fact of,

"You're sitting in my seat" and so on,

which is interesting to a point,

because you never want to tell people,

"You don't have a seat any more," it's never a nice thing to say.

I'd hate to be the guard on a service like this cos he's going to get it in the ear.

Right, guys. Jump on.

Right, buddy. Cheers. It's getting worse and it's getting worse.

Our 4.33 service is running just under three hours late

due to a passenger taking a heart attack on the train.

They were brought back to life three times

and I've been reported they were taken off the train alive

and they're on their way to hospital at the moment.

Because of the delays we've got a five o'clock train which we won't run today.

Everyone else in.

Just get the elbows out! That'll sort them!

I was on the 1700 to Lincoln, which you have cancelled.

Can you give me a revised time?

I most certainly can, sir.

-You OK there?

-Would you give me a seat on the next train to London?

I can't reserve you a seat, sir, no.

It's too late to reserve you a seat on the next one.

-Wait a minute. I want a seat. I'm 86 years old.

-Uh-huh.

I don't want to be standing to go to London.

What I'm saying to you is I can't reserve you a seat,

whether you're 86 or...

I don't understand why. You must have...

No, we don't, we don't cos the reservations have closed now.

The problem that we do have,

we've got all the passengers for the five o'clock train,

most of them will be getting onto the half past five,

so we're going to have two loads trying to get onto the one train

and it's already half full already.

There you go!

There's a lot of space in the other coach down there,

if you just walk through there there's plenty of space.

Must be deaf.

As they say, there are no problems, only challenges!

-RADIO:

-'OK, thanks for that.'

Three hours away in Aberdeen, Eddie Barr's train is still on time.

Just the first over there.

One bike for Edinburgh. Bike gets its own ticket. No concessions!

He's been working as a train guard for over four years

and tonight he's working the six o'clock back to Edinburgh.

Thanks very much, cheers now. Nice, mate. Cheers. All right, guys.

How are we all doing? Home time, home time! Ah, good lads!

Tickets there, my friends.

Tickets. Tickets.

-What?

-Tickets.

That's an airline ticket. Oh, Amsterdam!

-You just come back from Amsterdam?

-Look, mate...

Excuse me.

What's that?

Is this going to fucking Edinburgh an' all?

It's going to Edinburgh, yes.

-I'm going to fucking party at Edinburgh, OK?

-Uh-huh.

-I'm inviting you to come with me.

-No, honestly, my friend.

-I appreciate the invite, know what I mean?

-OK, OK.

-Come with me.

-Right. OK, mate. OK, OK. Take it easy, eh?

It's all good, it's all good. Just come with me. We'll get you a wee seat.

-Right, OK. Let me buy you a drink.

-No, listen. Sit down.

-Where's the bar?

-Sit down. Right, listen.

There's no more drink for you.

I want to get you back to your home safely, OK?

-Mind if we go and have a beer in the...

-No, no beers.

You've had enough, my friend.

Ah, the joys!

HE LAUGHS I'll be keeping an eye on him!

Jeff, there's a tall guy, kind of black jacket...

You'll know him because he's pretty drunk and he's full of the crack.

-Tall, kind of thin, bigger than me. Bald head. OK?

-OK, nae bother.

-No drink for him. I'll probably be about, Jeff, anyway, OK?

-Nae bother.

-Enough. Enough, right? Enough.

-Want a drink?

No, I don't want a drink.

I'm phoning our control to ask the police to come to Dundee

to have a word with him because I can't get any sense out of him.

Is that you, Steph? I've got a gentleman who is pretty intoxicated.

Hello, gorgeous.

So I would like to get the BTP at Dundee Station,

cos I'm not too happy to go further than Dundee.

Thank you very much. Bye!

So all we need to do now is keep our fingers crossed that they come!

HE LAUGHS

I knew it was all going too smoothly!

First class this end, standard class right around the corner.

At Edinburgh Waverley, it's four hours

since train delays hit the evening rush hour,

and the backlog of passengers has finally started to clear.

We're back on track, as long as nothing else happens.

Still got a few running, John. Hurry up, in that door there.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Doors are locked.

We're trying to get them to stop running. It's been raining today.

Slippy here. If they go down they could just roll.

Forms to fill out, you know!

Eddie Barr's train has arrived in Dundee,

where the British Transport Police are due to deal with his drunken passenger.

-Yo?

-David, we are just waiting for the police to come...for you!

EDDIE LAUGHS

Erratic driving!

No, we've got a very intoxicated passenger, unfortunately.

-OK, no problem, Eddie.

-Thanks, Davie.

-Cheers.

-They are fighting over there.

-Sorry?

-They're fighting over there at the back?

-They're fighting?

-Yeah, I think so.

-There's been fighting.

What's happened?

There was a drunk guy, wouldnae go away, and he slapped me.

So I tried to restrain him, he banged his head against the wall...

-He's off.

-Where did he go?

-He's away, he's off.

-He's definitely off?

-He's definitely off.

Are we OK to go?

WHISTLE BLOWS

Thanks now.

Thanks, mate. Cheers.

Never a dull moment, eh? Cheers, mate.

With the state he's in and obviously the description that's been given,

I can't see him lasting long in Dundee

without getting into more trouble,

without getting apprehended or getting a good doin'.

One of those three or probably a combination of all of them!

HE LAUGHS

On the West Highland Line,

Iain MacKinnon is out inspecting his 70 miles of track.

There you are, there's a dead... Well, WAS a dead stag.

It has been eaten. It's been eaten by the crows.

As well as keeping the line clear,

Iain tightens any parts that have worked themselves loose.

On busy modern railways, sections of track are welded together

but here they're still joined by metal plates and bolts.

The spanner's no big enough for it.

It's just running all the time, it's a running bolt.

What I do is, I keep a note of... you know, when the bolts are bad.

So these wooden keys that keep coming out,

you've got to make sure that they do stay in place

because it's a check rail for the train

and that's what basically keeps the train on the track.

Quite often you get... six or seven out at a time.

I'm going to tell you a story about this house here. It's a sad story.

There was an old couple staying in that house,

and one day, the wee girl ran out the door

and ran across and the train came around the corner and killed her.

That's before I started on the railway. Many, many years ago.

I actually know the lady... the lady's grandmother.

The husband closed up for years.

Nearly 300 people are killed on British railways every year.

At Craigentinny Depot near Edinburgh, a high-speed train

that's been involved in a fatality has been brought in to be fixed.

As you can see, the damage that's happened is...quite extensive.

This one is...major.

It was totally destroyed, the front end.

Nothing could be really saved.

To build this back up and machine the door out

and getting things ready to try to put it back into service,

we're talking maybe a three- to four-day turnaround.

All the time they're off is money.

So they need them back in service ASAP.

I've done a few. It's still not a nice thing.

The first thing that normally hits you is you get a smell.

It's just not a nice thing. Not nice at all.

After every fatality, trains are thoroughly washed and disinfected.

Found a human foot. Actually, it turned out to be a lady's foot.

It was stuck in between the fuel pipe down here.

I found the bottom half of the jaw with the eye socket kind of...

Horrible.

But you just bag it, tag it and then send it away,

and it goes to the lab or wherever.

It's not very nice, but it's part of my job.

Not knowing who they are's obviously a lot easier.

There's family out there, you know,

they've lost their loved one or whatever else.

Most fatalities on the railways are suicides.

Two and a half years ago, this woman decided to jump in front of me.

I was doing 125... and by the time you've looked at it

and focused on it, you've hit... You can't do a thing about it.

I burst into tears before she even left the platform, because I knew

she wouldn't stop, I couldn't stop, I was going to have to witness it.

You keep looking cos you think, "They'll move, they'll stop. They'll change their mind."

But they're going... She was running too fast towards me to stop.

So I thought, "Oh, no. I'm going to have to watch this."

It was so surreal, I mean, I thought I was watching it on telly.

I couldn't believe my eyes, and the next minute, of course,

although you're in shock, all your emergency training's got to kick in.

You've got to do the right thing, stop the track, let everybody know.

Make sure you secure the train, stop the train properly. Everything.

What a bizarre day that was.

Thankfully I did all the things I had to do, and then had a meltdown later.

You can't...feel guilty about it.

And you knew that when you took the job on.

And I'm quite relieved that it happened later on in my career

and it didn't happen early on, because it was absolutely horrendous

and very traumatic for everybody concerned.

They're just not... They're not in, are they?

They're not thinking at all.

But it definitely changed me, definitely.

Scotland's landscape has made it an ideal destination

for passengers who want to experience train travel

from a bygone era.

Every year, private charter trains are squeezed onto the network

around regular passenger services.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Tonight, the restored Orient-Express Northern Belle,

run by a private company,

is making one of its luxury round trips from Edinburgh Waverley.

-Warwick carriage. Do you know your seat numbers?

-Do we know them?

119 passengers have paid £250 each

for the experience aboard this 1930s train.

Main course - we've got chestnut-stuffed guinea fowl breast

wrapped in pancetta with red cabbage fondue.

PASSENGERS CHEER AND APPLAUD

Three chicken, one veg, one bass, one normal.

You get used to everything

cos if I cook at home I lean against the side and I sway while I cook.

It's just something that you do!

This is a beetroot-cured salmon gravadlax...

During the four-hour round trip, 34 crew serve up

a kilogram of caviar and 150 bottles of champagne.

If you wait about three seconds, though. One, two, three.

Check again.

LAUGHTER

Thanks very much, ladies. Enjoy your dinner tonight.

Thank you very much.

This is better than a five-star restaurant.

We're hoping there's a snowfall

and we're staying on for a few hours. The later, the better.

It's a rare passenger that wishes they were delayed.

-Mind your step.

-Thank you.

-Thank you now.

-Thanks very much.

-Thanks. Bye.

-Thank you.

-Thanks very much.

-Thanks now. Bye.

Every night, Scotland's track teams are out working on some part of the network

on a rolling programme of repairs to track and infrastructure.

It's costly but necessary, just to keep the lines up and running.

Tonight, Edinburgh's Haymarket tunnels have been closed

so they can replace the worn-out rail on this busy commuter route to Glasgow.

This is one of the most important lines.

This is for the trains going right through to Glasgow and that.

If anything happens on here, it's a lot of money for delays, you know what I mean?

The team has just six hours to lay 300 feet of track

that's been eroded by damp in these Victorian tunnels.

It can be quite... Quite demanding.

The Network Rail team have to complete this job

before the first train runs through at 9am.

A small army of contractors has also been drafted in to meet that deadline.

From the minute you get to the depot to the minute you go home to your family, it's go, go, go.

Unfortunately, that's the railway for you.

Any job in a tunnel, basically, is a nightmare.

It's not the cleanest environment you want to be working in. A wee bit of...

muck as in...human waste, I'd say.

That's what it is. Human dirt that's on the track there.

You don't know what you're touching.

While your friends are out on a Saturday night having a drink... "Do you want to come out?"

"No. I can't. I'm working."

Unfortunately, this is when the majority of work's happening, the weekend.

Weekends and night shifts. You're just a vampire.

Just in time for the Twilight season, eh?

HE LAUGHS

They're all getting drunk and we're in here working away.

I know where I'd rather be.

Can't do it during the day. The trains have to run.

So you can only do it when they've stopped shunting and they've closed the tracks down.

Always smiling.

As long as everyone makes it home to their family in the morning, that's what it's all about.

The contractor workers have been booked until seven,

but with 15 tonnes of rail to replace, it may not be enough time.

I think there's been a bit of a breakdown in communications.

As you can see, the job's not completed yet.

Obviously, we need all hands on deck to get this job finished.

It's just before the contractors are due to finish.

But it's clear to team leader John Morgan,

-his bosses need to agree to keep them on longer.

-I don't think they'll all stay on.

We need all hands on deck here. This is getting a wee bit hectic now.

Keeping them on will be costly.

So, while John waits for a decision, the team cracks on with the work.

Cheers. Cheers.

Finally, John's bosses agree to keep the contractors on for an extra hour and a half.

Got the rest of the guys till half-past eight so we're all here till the death.

Hopefully it goes a wee bit smoother now.

With the new rail section secured in place,

the last part of the job is to weld them together...

at a temperature of 3,000 degrees Celsius.

When it's near water, it can't be put out.

It says water and fire.

I've not had an accident. Touch wood it stays that way.

HE CHUCKLES

BELLS PEAL

After this, it'll be home. Get the head down for a while,

then the football this afternoon. Then back out night shift Monday night.

That's me. Rest up for Monday!

-Fresh air.

-Great to get out in the fresh air.

Glad that's over.

By 9am, Edinburgh's Haymarket tunnels are back open for business...

..ready for another day on the Scottish railways.

You've not got a reservation from Glasgow at a particular time,

so you should have got the earlier train from Glasgow to get here.

How am I supposed to know that?

-You have to have a reservation for the bicycle.

-Oh, really?

-Yes.

-Do you pay for that?

-No, it's free.

But you have to go to the ticket office for it.

-CAMERAMAN: Do you quite enjoy this?

-Love it. Love it!

Bolt missing there, so I've got to take note of that.

HE WHISTLES

I never spoke English till I was about 12 years of age.

I was brought up...

The school we were at where I was brought up,

it was all Gaelic.

'S e deogh obair ma tha anns... a railway.

-I don't know what the Gaelic is for railway.

-HE CHUCKLES

-CAMERAMAN: What does that mean?

-It means, "It's a good job for the railway."

Er...

De an uair a tha sinn gun dol bidh ann an Mallaig?

What time are we going to be in Mallaig?

Ca a bheil an treana? A bheil e anmoch a rithist? Where's the train? Is it late again?

Tha e snog. Tha gu math...

Tha breagha...

gun faigh a Lochailort.

'S e snog a th'ann.

-What does that mean?

-It is a beautiful place and it's nice to walk.

HE CHUCKLES