Fears over the future of sleeper train
Fears have been raised over the future of Scotland’s railways after the operator of the Caledonian Sleeper service warned it might hand the keys back.
Serco, which took over running the night trains to and from London in 2015, last week revealed it had taken a £30 million hit on the franchise as a result of a “sharp increase in costs”.
The terms of the sleeper contract means Serco can try and get the taxpayer to pay for half of its losses from 2020 but the outsourcing giant also warned it may seek an early exit from the 15-year franchise.
It comes just weeks after it was announced the UK East Coast franchise deal will end early and comes amid continuing performance and financial problems for ScotRail franchise holder, Abellio.
Transport minister Humza Yousaf, who earlier this month flew to the Netherlands for crunch talks with Abellio, has written to MSPs to say he is monitoring the Caledonian Sleeper situation closely,
But Scotland boss of rail union RMT, Mick Hogg, said: “The ball is burst when it comes to private franchising.
“The East Coast line, the shambles at ScotRail and now with the sleeper, all the problems show that we need radical changes in the shape of public ownership or the passengers and the taxpayer will continue to lose out.”
Serco say it is fully committed to the franchise.