MINISTERS are under pressure to support calls to take the East Coast Main Line back into public ownership amid ongoing financial woes.
A joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin Trains is giving up its right to run the line five years early after it “got its sums wrong” and racked up huge cost overruns.
Now Scottish Labour is calling on the SNP Government to back plans to bring the key Edinburgh to London route back into public hands.
In a letter to transport minister Humza Yousaf, the party’s Colin Smyth MSP said the decision by the UK Government to sell the franchise to Stagecoach was a “betrayal of taxpayers and the travelling public”.
He wrote: “The failure of the Stagecoach franchise reflects the deep-rooted problems with our privatised railways but we now have an opportunity to put the East Coast mainline back into public hands.
“In the past the Scottish Government have claimed to support publicly-run railways in Scotland, so it is extremely disappointing that so far you have chosen not to support Labour’s call for a publicly-run East Coast mainline, particularly given how important these services are to passengers in Scotland.”
He added: “This is a highly profitable route, and it is one that thousands of Scots rely on each day. From 2009 to 2015 the route was publicly run, raising more than £1 billion.
“Returning it to public hands would not only ensure the best service for customers, but it would provide a boost to public finances.
“I hope that you will reconsider your position, and that you and the Scottish Government will support Labour’s calls for a publicly-run East Coast mainline.”
It comes after a former UK transport secretary said he was “astonished” at First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s silence over the issue.
Ex Labour minister Andrew Adonis insisted a “golden opportunity” had been missed to make the case for a Scottish-English state-run company to take over the vital transport connection.
UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling previously said Perth-based Stagecoach would only continue running the line for "a small number of months and no more" after it ran into financial difficulties.
He said Stagecoach – which holds 90 per cent of the franchise, while Virgin has the remaining 10 – was facing losses of around £200 million.
It marks the third time the East Coast franchise has collapsed, after National Express ran out of money in 2009 and GNER was stripped of the route in 2006.
SNP transport minister Humza Yousaf said he and his predecessors had “long made clear to the UK Government our preference for public sector operators to be given a fair chance to operate our railways”.
He added: “Previous UK administrations – both Conservative and Labour - have repeatedly denied the Scottish Government the powers to allow a public sector body to bid for rail franchises.
“Only now, after repeated efforts, do we have powers to enable future contracts in Scotland to be let to the public sector and we are working to enable a public sector bid for Scotland’s railways in the future.
“The UK Government has the contractual relationships with East Coast Rail’s operators and they should be held to account for the current situation. Our priority is to ensure continuity of services for travellers. No options for the future of the East Coast Mainline should be taken off the table, including the UK Government continuing to run the contract and returning the appropriate profits to Scotland.”
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