Way off track

PASSENGERS LET DOWN BY SCOTRAIL

SCOTRAIL bosses say they’re making progress – but for too many passengers, it’s not good enough.

Reliability hit a low point over April to June. Punctuality over the quarter wasn’t up to speed.

The operators point to the fact that nine out of 10 trains hit their target time.

But if your train is routinely in the late minority, it really doesn’t matter.

People depend on reliable services to get to their jobs.

Trains, like other forms of public transport, are at the mercy of the weather or unforeseen infrastructure problems.

But rain and gusts are too often the easy excuse.

ScotRail promise the “best railway Scotland has ever had”.

They have a long way to go.

SCOTRAIL passengers have been left waiting by the most unreliable services for 20 years, say official figures.

That was partly down to a 347 per cent increase in cancellations and delays blamed on severe weather.

The figures for April to June also showed punctuality at its worst for that period since 2005.

Nearly one in 10 trains failed to arrive at its destination within five minutes of the scheduled time.

The dismal figures provoked calls for the train franchise to be brought back into public ownership.

Labour transport spokesman Colin Smyth branded the figures an “outrage”.

He said: “Rail passengers across Scotland will rightly be wondering what else has to happen before SNP Transport Secretary Michael Matheson sorts this mess out.”

He called on the Scottish Government to use a break clause in the ScotRail franchise agreement to “to take Scotland’s railways back into public hands to ensure they work for the many, not the few”.

The percentage of trains running as advertised in the April-June first quarter was the lowest it had been since records began in 1997-98.

Only 90.3 per cent turned up on time. Meanwhile, 2.9 per cent of all services were judged to have resulted in “significant disruption to at least some passengers” when cancellations and lateness were measured.

It was 34 per cent higher in the first quarter of 2018-19 than in the same period of 2017-18 – mainly due to a 347 per cent increase in cancellations and delays attributed to severe weather.

Manuel Cortes of the TSSA union hit out at the Scottish Government.

He said: “This is what Scotland has to show for 20 years of privateering.”

Cortes added to calls for ScotRail to be returned to public ownership, slating the three firms who have run the franchise.

He added: “After 20 years of National Express, First and Abellio lining their pockets, Scottish commuters still can’t rely on getting to work on time when they start their journey.”

ScotRail Alliance managing director Alex Hynes said: “The fact that more than nine out of 10 ScotRail trains met their punctuality target is encouraging and a sign that the efforts we are making are paying off.

“But we know there is more to do and we share customers’ frustrations when things go wrong.

“That’s why Network Rail is investing billions of pounds in infrastructure and ScotRail is spending hundreds of millions of pounds on new and upgraded trains.”