SNP admits ScotRail service failures but rules out fares freeze
PASSENGERS on struggling ScotRail will not have their fares frozen, Transport Secretary Michael Matheson insisted yesterday.
His intervention came as he admitted that the latest rise in fares is ‘unwelcome’.
Mr Matheson said while the performance of ScotRail operator Abellio is ‘not where it should be’, travellers are still facing the prospect of annual increases.
Freezing train fares could cost the public purse an estimated £58million, he added, warning that such a move could have a ‘significant’ impact on taxpayers.
Pressed on whether there will continue to be annual price increases, Mr Matheson said: ‘That is how the whole of the fare structure within the UK for our rail system operates, on an annual basis with there being increases in January.’
He was speaking the day after the average cost of train tickets north of the Border increased by 2.8 per cent, although travellers on peak-time services will see the cost of their journey rise by 3.2 per cent.
Transport Scotland defended the rise as being below the 3.1 per cent average increase faced by rail passengers in England and Wales.
But some opposition politicians and transport unions hit out, saying prices should be frozen because of ScotRail’s performance problems.
This week, passengers and rail workers gathered at more than 20 stations across the UK, including Edinburgh Waverley, to protest against the fare rises.
Campaigners from the RMT Union handed out leaflets, urging members of the public to get in touch with their local MSPs to support ‘a publicly owned railway’.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard tweeted: ‘Passengers shouldn’t be forced to pay more to prop up the failed privatisation of our railways.’
Mick Hogg, of the RMT union, said Scotland’s train travellers are ‘sick to the back teeth of a rail service that is not working’.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, the union’s regional officer said: ‘Passengers are getting ripped off with crowded trains, cancelled trains and not enough staff to run the trains.
‘There should not be an increase in fares because passengers are getting a rotten service.’
Mr Matheson told the same programme: ‘I recognise that the annual increase in rail fares is something which is often unwelcome, particularly when we are going through a period when the rail franchise operator Abellio has not been performing to the levels which we expect.
‘I do recognise that the performance we have with ScotRail at the present time is not where it should be.’
Mr Matheson added: ‘We have been very clear and are taking action on that matter. But I do recognise that it is an unwelcome increase.’
Overcrowding on trains has hit one of its highest levels and is likely to get worse, according to a Labour study published yesterday.
It suggests the worst routes are on average 187 per cent over capacity. The worst service last year was the Transpennine Express 4.22am from Glasgow Central to Manchester Airport, with twice the number of passengers the train was designed to carry, said Labour.
Overcrowding on peak routes will increase in the coming years, the study authors warn.
Last year cancellations or significantly late services were at their highest level in 17 years, the study indicates.
Just before Christmas, the Scottish Government ordered ScotRail bosses to improve performance levels.
A remedial notice issued on Christmas Eve cited cancellations in November and December as having breached the required performance targets.
Earlier last month the rail operator had introduced a new timetable which was expected to improve the service.
However, passengers faced cancellations across the country, with staff training and infrastructure problems leading to significant disruption.
A response to the notice must be delivered within eight weeks, outlining how ScotRail will resolve the issues.
‘Passengers being ripped off’