Scotrail given £23m cash advance to cover shortfall
Cash-strapped Scotrail has been paid £23 million early to cover revenue shortfalls.
The news emerged as the train operator admitted to The Scotsman its punctuality had fallen again, to 80.5 per cent over the past month.
Abellio, which runs the train franchise, has not achieved an expected increase in ticket sales because of disruption caused by upgrading the main Edinburgh-glasgow line.
The Dutch state railways offshoot has been under huge pressure after its pre-tax losses rocketed from £2.6m in the 2016 calendar year to £17.9m last year.
Delays in electrifying the premier route put back plans for faster and longer trains.
The firm has also taken longer than expected to recover passengers after accompanying track work closed the main part of Queen Street station for four months in 2016.
Scotrail has also suffered from worsening punctuality,
chiefly caused by extreme weather and track and signalling problems – the responsibility of its Network Rail partners.
The £23m was due to have been paid during 2019/20. It comes in addition to £183.4m in subsidy payments this year.
These fell from £310.7m last year and are due to reduce further next year.
The proportion of trains arriving within five minutes of time has dropped from 81.8 to 80.5 per cent – even worse than during the period cover by Storm Ali in September.
Annual average performance has dipped to 87.3 per cent – the worst for 12 years.
Scotrail Alliance managing director Alex Hynes admitted to receiving the advance only after repeated questioning by MSPS yesterday.
He said: “Scotrail has received some revenue support payments, which it is contractually due from April next year, in advance of April next year. But that does not change the net amount of taxpayer subsidy to the franchise.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Any notion Scotrail is receiving additional money is wrong.
“The re-phasing reflects the delays in revenue growth caused by the late delivery of Network Rail electrification, as well as the extended impact of the Queen Street tunnel closure period.”
A Scotrail spokesperson said: “No extra money has been received. Payment has been brought forward and will be reduced over time in accordance with the original franchise agreement.”