Train firm is off track
More services are late and fares are rising – as ScotRail operator Abellio makes a profit of £1m every month
A THIRD of all ScotRail services are late more often than they are on time, its own figures show.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale yesterday urged the Scottish Government to do more to help rail commuters.
She also disclosed that its cap on rush-hour train fares has increased by four times more than average commuter earnings since 2011.
Miss Dugdale said commuters are paying more and more for a ‘shocking’ service, as she revealed the figures recently published by ScotRail.
She highlighted the fact that profits of £1million a month are being made by Dutch firm Abellio, which operates the ScotRail franchise, amid a rise in rail fares.
At First Minister’s Questions, Miss Dugdale asked if a promise by former transport minister Keith Brown that the deal would be a ‘world-leading contract to deliver for rail staff and passengers’ had been kept.
She said: ‘I doubt commuters on the morning train from Dundee to Edinburgh, or North Berwick to Edinburgh, or the nightly commute from Cumbernauld to Dalmuir, would agree that Scotland has a world-leading contract or indeed that the expectations of the public are being met.
‘In the past few months, passengers faced cancellations, delays and overcrowding.
‘New figures this week show a third of all routes have services that are late more often than they are on time. At the same time, Abellio are raking it in – £1million a month of profit.’
The ScotRail figures indicate that at Arbroath, Ardrossan Harbour and Glasgow High Street, services were late more than 89 per cent of the time, while in Milngavie it was 75 per cent. Routes terminating in Dalmuir, Ardrossan Town, Carnoustie and Wick were late 70 per cent of the time.
The statistics also show that, since 2011, average weekly earnings have risen 6 per cent, while regulated peak fares have gone up 23 per cent.
Miss Dugdale argued that while the railway network ‘might be working for the transport bosses, it’s certainly not working for Scotland’s commuters’.
She added: ‘Those who travel by train for their work every day are paying more for a shocking service.
‘Commuters are fed up of the First Minister’s excuses. This is her responsibility. What is she going to do to get things back on track?’
Last month, ScotRail boss Phil Verster was forced to apologise after admitting that passengers were fed up with the firm’s poor performance.
He said he was facing a ‘couple of rough months’ after the Scottish Government ordered him to improve standards amid claims Abellio could be stripped of the contract.
But he claimed ‘a very difficult’ year with huge engineering works, severe storms and prolonged industrial action had taken bosses’ ‘time and efforts’ away from running the railways.
In response to Miss Dugdale’s concerns yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon said she had received an improvement plan from ScotRail and was continuing to invest significant sums of money in the rail network.
She added: ‘The contract was awarded because it was considered it was the contract in the best interests of passengers across Scotland.
‘But it is incumbent on Abellio as the holder of that contract to continue to make sure that they deliver services that meet the expectations of the travelling public.
‘The Scottish Government will continue to liaise on an ongoing basis with ScotRail to make sure that is the case.
‘We are absolutely committed to working with ScotRail to deliver a quality service to passengers. That is our responsibility and we are serious in making sure we discharge that responsibility.
‘My job and the Transport Minister’s job is to get on with fixing the problems, not just to carp from the sidelines.’
Abellio replaced Aberdeenbased FirstGroup as the ScotRail operator after promising to invest millions in improving services.
‘Not working for commuters’