Transport minister welcomes ScotRail anniversary

Scotland’s newly-appointed transport minister has welcomed the one-year anniversary of ScotRail being brought into public ownership – as the opposition accused the government of a “lack of ambition”.

The decision was taken not to renew the contract with Dutch firm Abellio in March 2021, with the operator taken over on April 1 2022.

Kevin Stewart, who was appointed transport minister this week, welcomed the milestone.

“Our aim for public ownership of ScotRail is delivering a service which listens and responds to passenger need,” he said.

As he takes over the post, Mr Stewart said one of his “key priorities” will be to improve performance in the national rail service.

Mr Stewart also said he “looks forward” to opening stations at East Linton, Cameron Bridge and Leven within the next year, as well as bringing the Caledonian Sleeper service into public hands in June.

“We know there will be challenges to be overcome, as we continue to recover from the Covid pandemic and deal with the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis and high inflation,” he added.

“However, we can do so from a position of increased confidence based on the strong foundations of the positive changes implemented over the past year and as we continue to listen to and prioritise the needs of the passenger across Scotland’s Railway.”

But Scottish Labour transport spokesman Neil Bibby said the Scottish Government had shown a “woeful lack of ambition”.

“After dragging their feet for years on nationalisation, they are now squandering the opportunity we have to deliver a railway that truly works for Scotland,” he said.

“The SNP has no vision, no ambition and no plan for our railways – and while ministers kick decisions into the long grass, passengers are paying the price.

“We need a reliable and affordable rail network to drive down emissions, link up communities and revive our struggling economy.”

Scottish Tory transport spokesman Graham Simpson said ministers had “done nothing to improve services”, pointing to cancellations caused by industrial disputes.

“Within weeks of the SNP taking it over, ScotRail was in chaos, with an emergency timetable, and a third of journeys axed,” he said.

“Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been paid out in compensation for delays and cancellations, passengers have raised thousands of complaints, the service is still at lower levels than it was before the pandemic, and the rolling stock is antiquated.

“The SNP seemed to think that nationalisation would be a magic wand that would improve rail services, but they never took the trouble actually to come up with concrete plans.

“As a result, rail users are still stuck with a substandard service subject to constant disruption, and taxpayers are on the hook for the bill.

“Unless Kevin Stewart plans to fail as comprehensively as Humza Yousaf did when he was in the transport minister’s job, there needs finally to be some vision for a rail service that will actually deliver for Scotland.”

Scottish Lib Dem transport spokeswoman Jill Reilly said “for the good of the planet, the government needs to ensure that all services are up and running and trains are arriving on time”, adding that her party would work with Mr Stewart.