Dutch railway deal is signal failure for commuters

That there’s money in Scotland’s railways is beyond dispute.

ScotRail’s Dutch operators Abellio are making £ 1million a month from their lucrative contract with the Scottish Government.

Good for them. They won the tender fair and square and are entitled to make it work for them.

Their multi-million-pound profits hardly appear to be performance-related however.

ScotRail’s managing director admitted last month the service “must improve”.

This translates roughly as: “Yes, it’s been a bit of a disaster.”

The stats around delays and cancellations make for horrific reading, but none of that has hit Abellio where it hurts most. In the pocket.

The Utrecht-based firm are the foreign arm of the Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen.

And as our story details today, when Abellio profit in Scotland, Nederlandse Spoorwegen benefit in Holland. Opposition parties are asking whether this is money which should really be leaving the country.

It’s a fair question and one which isn’t asked often enough.

During the referendum debate, the Yes campaign was treated as a blank canvas on to which special interest groups projected their most pressing concerns.

A Yes vote was going to deliver better childcare, a newly thriving NHS, a rejuvenated education system, and better job opportunities for young Scots.

What was never clear was how the bill would be paid. How to grow Scotland’s economy wasn’t part of the narrative then. But it has to be now. It would be depressing to think that there isn’t a Scottish firm paying tax in this country and reinvesting profits which can operate our rail transport.

We are talking about train timetables. Not rocket science.

Growing business and wealth creation are rightly priorities for the First Minister as she seeks to persuade voters that the economics of a newly-independent Scotland won’t resemble those of the madhouse.

In the meantime, there must be a way of getting a better deal for our own commuters from the ScotRail contract.

There have to be clearer, more transparent penalties for poor performance

Delayed trains, congest ion and cancellations are bad for our economy and unacceptable for our commuters.

They should also be expensive for the Dutch company operating our trains if they fail to deliver better results.

A Yes vote was going to deliver better childcare and better job prospects for young Scots