Government should help solve rail dispute

Sir, - Conveniently veiled by the universal coverage of Nicola Sturgeon’s increasing desperation over the EU, and Scottish independence, is the ongoing major industrial action on Scotland’s railways.

What is the Scottish Government doing to help to sort it out, other than lamely asking the sides to meet and talk?

In 2014, Transport Scotland awarded the ScotRail franchise to the Dutch firm Abellio instead of a UK bidder such as First Group or National Express.

Perhaps the SNP probably wasn’t overtly sucking up to Europe at that time, but it can’t be ruled out.

Nevertheless, the decision not to keep the franchise within the UK was heavily criticised by both unions and rail-user groups alike, all to no avail.

At the centre of the strike is the decision by Abellio to press ahead with driver- only operated trains.

That operational aim must surely have been laid out in its 2014 bid and, logically, must have been accepted by Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government.

If not, why not? What questions did the then Transport Secretary Keith Brown actually ask?

Or, more likely, did the Scottish Government sign up to the franchise in the full knowledge that there was a ticking time bomb in the small print in respect of driveronly operations?

Either way, Mr Brown’s 2014 promise to the workforce of “a guarantee of nocompulsory redundancies throughout the life of the contract” now looks decidedly shaky.

No doubt the reallocation of guards to downgraded duties doesn’t count in the government’s eyes.

The Scottish Government consistently claims to be omnicompetent. The current railway strike is yet another example of just how false a position that is.

People who have experienced disruption to their travel plans recently have a right to know why the SNP Government has allowed the situation to go unchecked. A preoccupation with two other things I would suggest. Jim Shaw. Hill Street, Dundee.

Picture: PA. Trains stand empty at Edinburgh Waverely during industrial action.