The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Working week starts with more rail woes
Transport: ScotRail under fire again after services cancelled
Disgruntled rail passengers endured yet another Monday morning with travel disruption, after a string of train cancellations.
Ongoing ScotRail staff shortages meant commuters trying to travel across the north of Scotland were inconvenienced by terminated journeys to Aberdeen, Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh.
Elsewhere a delayed freight vehicle had a knockon impact on journeys south of Aberdeen, while an unspecified fault meant some trains were leaving stations with three carriages instead of four.
And an out-of-order toilet on the 1.13pm Glasgow to Carlisle prompted travelling SNP MSP Gail Ross to tweet that it was “not good when I’ve just had a big coffee!”.
Last week, ScotRail apologised to passengers for falling “below the standard they expect and deserve” and said it was working “flat out” to train new conductors and drivers and return services to normal. Yesterday a spokesman pointed out that the proportion of trains which arrived on time in December had risen
“Scotland cannot afford to be without a safe, reliable railway”
to 84.2%, up from 83.4% in the previous weeks.
Transport Secretary Michael Matheson has previously warned that Abellio could be stripped of running the ScotRail franchise if the figures do not improve.
And despite the gradual improvement, critics say it is time for the Scottish Government to step in.
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “ScotRail knew they needed to train staff for the new trains and should have made sure that there was adequate cover for this.
“It is totally unacceptable that trains are cancelled at short notice and that this is going to continue for weeks to come. The sooner the service is taken into public ownership the better.”
North East Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said: “Scottish Government ministers need to get to grips with the ScotRail crisis, because Scotland cannot afford to be without a safe, reliable railway for the future.”
Scottish Conservative MP for Moray, Douglas Ross, said: “By waiving sanctions that would have punished ScotRail for missing targets, the SNP government has been granting a licence to fail.”