Abellio made £3.5m loss in first full year operating Scotrail franchise
Abellio Scotrail made a loss of £3.5 million after tax in its first full year of operating train services in Scotland, new accounts show.
Abellio, an arm of the state-owned Dutch railway operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), took over the Scotrail franchise in April 2015 and made profits of £9.5m in the first nine months. However the latest accounts show in 2016 the business was loaned £10m from Abellio Transport Holding, another branch of NS.
The 2015 figures had sparked accusations of Abellio “profiteering” from the franchise, but the accounts show no dividend was paid to its Netherlands-based parent company in either year.
Abellio Scotrail said its turnover of £610.1m for the year was affected by tough trading conditions and the impact of the partial closure of Glasgow Queen Street station for 20 weeks.
The company faced heavy criticism after the reliability and punctuality of trains fell below the standard required but said performance had now improved year on year for six periods in a row.
It highlighted investment of £475m in the railways, the introduction of a new fleet of electric class 385 trains and the “extensive” refurbishment of high speed trains to serve Scotland’s cities from 2018.