UNION officials and volunteers have mounted a campaign at Glasgow Central station today (Monday) to have Dutch train operator Abellio stripped of being responsible for running Scotland's train services.
It comes as Abellio, which has control of the ScotRail franchise have come under increasing pressure over its performance after an improvement plan was meant to build the "best railway Scotland has every had".
But the service has come under fire from all directions after more than three weeks of disruption following the introduction of a new winter timetable last month.
Members of the transport staff union TSSA plus other campaigners gathered outside Glasgow Central from 7:45am to 9:15am on Monday to urge commuters to back an online petition to end the Abellio contract and bring ScotRail back into public ownership after what it called "months of rail misery, with passengers suffering franchise contract-busting levels of poor service".
The new timetable launched at the start of December, timed to coincide with the introduction of faster and more environmentally friendly trains, were set up after railway consultant Nick Donovan carried out an independent review of the performance of Abellio and Network Rail, which is in charge of track infrastructure.
The train operator had said its new electric and high-speed trains including the environmentally friendly Hitachi Class 385 stock would allow shorter journey times, more seats and more services on updated routes to build "the best railway Scotland has ever had".
But passengers have bombarded ScotRail with complaints about skip-stopping and overcrowded trains since the timetable launched, while an estimated average of 80 services were cancelled per day in the first week-and-a-half of ScotRail’s new winter timetable.
Frustrations over the service have heightened as ScotRail were preparing to put up fares up at an average of 2.8% from last week.
TSSA Leader Manuel Cortes said it was a "national disaster" that the transport minister Michael Matheson had appeared to "renege" on a his predecessor Humza Yousaf's willingness to break the Abellio franchise this March.
But the Scottish Government said Abellio would have to be in default of the ScotRail contract to enable the removal of the the franchise.
Mr Cortes said: “Passengers are rightly angry at the way ScotRail has let them down. 2019 started with yet more late and cancelled trains and overcrowding is at an all-time high. The only thing Abellio excels at is letting down their customers.
“Blame belongs with Abellio and their team of senior managers. Poor planning, deliberate understaffing of the railway and trying to do things on the cheap are not the fault of our members who do their best in tough circumstances.
"But ScotRail also fails because of the systemic problems visited on it by the now beyond broken experiment with privatisation of our rail companies and rolling stock. ScotRail’s performance is the worst since privatisation began in Britain."
Most of the latest disruption that has hit Scots railways since the timetable launch was due to ScotRail staff shortages, with the train operator saying that is partly because many have been undergoing training on the new trains too late to be ready for the timetable launch.
ScotRail said that was partly caused by the late arrival of the new Hitachi Class 385 and high-speed InterCity trains.
Dozens more services were cancelled and the number of carriages cut on dozens more services on Hogmanay and on January 2 and 3 with staffing issues the main cause given again.
That's after ScotRail was told by the Scottish Government to come up with a plan to improve services or face having its contract axed.
Ministers issued a Remedial Plan Notice on Christmas Eve citing cancellations in November and December as having breached required performance targets. They have the power to issue a notice if they think an operator has contravene or is likely to contravene any term in the franchise agreement.
Mr Cortes said: "When there could have been light at the end of the tunnel after months of misery, Matheson has done no more than ask Abellio for yet another plan which will take two months to arrive before anything gets done! Scottish passengers deserve better than that."
A Scottish Government spokesman said they were restricted over what action it can take because rail remains a reserved matter to Westminster under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998 and that Abellio would have to be in default of the ScotRail contract to enable the removal of the the franchise.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Rail remains a reserved matter under the Scotland Act. Until this changes, we cannot consider the full range of options for running the railways in Scotland in a way which best suits our passengers, freight providers and communities.
"That is why we are yet again calling on the UK Government, through its rail review, to devolve all rail matters to the Scottish Ministers. Anyone with a genuine interest in improving our railways should get behind this.
“Unique in the UK, the Scottish Government has secured powers to accept bids for future rail franchises in Scotland from public sector organisations through the Scotland Act 2016. This was after repeatedly being denied that right by successive Labour and Conservative governments.”
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