SCOTRAIL’S performance has fallen to a three-year low, sparking renewed calls for the railways to be taken back into public hands.

Official statistics show Dutch-owned operator Abellio, which took over in 2015, has seen the punctuality and reliability of its trains deteriorate.

Its Public Performance Measure (PPM) – which records services arriving within five minutes of their scheduled time – has sunk to 88.2 per cent, below the target of 92.13%.

It is the third period in a row that the figures have been a record low for Abellio, with opposition parties piling pressure on new SNP Transport Secretary Michael Matheson.

Scottish Labour’s shadow transport secretary Colin Smyth said: “Mr Matheson’s honeymoon period is over and it’s time for him to get a grip on Scotland’s railways as passengers face more delays yet are expected to pay more for tickets.

“When the SNP handed the franchise to Abellio, they said it would be a 'world leading' deal, but the reality for Scotland’s hard-pressed passengers has been anything but with hikes in fares, overcrowding, delays and stop skipping.

“It is time to bring this SNP rail chaos to an end and return our railways back into public hands.

“Franchising has failed passengers and staff and that’s why Labour is fighting for publicly owned railways which will serve the many, not just the few.”

PPM measures punctuality and reliability, with trains falling foul of the target if they are more than five minutes late.

But using a stricter measure which records any arrivals more than a minute late, half of all trains in Scotland’s busiest stations were delayed.

At Edinburgh Waverley, less than half of services were on time. At Glasgow Queen Street, just 55.8% were.

Abellio took over the ScotRail franchise in 2015, but Scottish ministers are now putting together a public sector bid for the railways.

Last week it emerged the state-owned company behind CalMac is exploring bidding for the ScotRail franchise when it ends in 2025.

A ScotRail spokesman said it knows performance need to be better and it shares the frustration of its customers when things don’t go according to plan.

He said: “The investment we are making in new and upgraded trains, and our recruitment drive to increase the number of people working on our frontline, will help us significantly in enhancing the day-to-day running of services.

“We are building the best railway Scotland has ever had and service performance is a huge part of this delivery. Everyone at ScotRail is working together to deliver these improvements.”

It is understood almost half of ScotRail's performance issues related to infrastructure, which is the responsibility of Network Rail.

Signalling failures at Yoker and Rutherglen East Junction, as well as flooding at Dalmuir, were among the top incidents to hit services.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “As has been stated on many previous occasions ministers expect the ScotRail Alliance to work closely together to build on lessons learned going forward.

“We have already secured the right for a public sector operator to bid for a rail franchise in Scotland – after being denied by previous UK Governments – which will enable a level playing field between the private and public sector in bidding for rail franchises for the benefit of passengers and best value for the public purse.

“We should not lose sight of the transformational process underway on our railways including the infrastructure enhancements, as well as the introduction of new and fully re-furbished rolling stock with the additional services that they will provide.

“In recent years 160 extra carriages were added to ScotRail’s fleet with an extra 200 to follow in the next 12 months giving a 50% increase in carriages since 2007.”