Union demands inquiry into Abellio contract claims

A union has demanded an inquiry after reports the newly-nationalised ScotRail was still paying its former operating company to run some support services.

TSSA called for the independent inquiry on Monday after reports that Dutch transport firm Abellio, which used to operate railways north of the border, will be running some services for the next three years, a move the union said would see the company earn millions.

In December 2019 it was announced Abellio would be stripped of its contract to run ScotRail and earlier this year the service entered public ownership.

However, the union said services including a customer helpline, parts of ScotRail’s payroll department, rail replacement buses and taxis, and the management of station tenancies are still being run by the former operator.

Mr Cortes said: “The Scottish Government have had more than two years to ensure that all Abellio’s contracts were ended at the same time.

“It is astonishing that a company that served Scottish passengers so badly are allowed to keep raking in the cash from the public purse.

“Enough is enough. I am demanding that an independent inquiry be set up into how Abellio have continued to. Scottish taxpayers deserve to know who is siphoning their money and why.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We will provide an update to Parliament shortly on this matter.

“However it should be noted that just four of nearly 200 contracts were carried over by Abellio as they were critical to maintain ScotRail services from day one of services being handed over to public ownership.

“Three out of four of those contracts have break points in the first year to allow other competitive alternatives to be identified.

“The fourth contract, crucially, secures the jobs of workers at the ScotRail Services Centre in Glasgow.”