ScotRail's winter timetable service disruption entered a second month, as a regulator-commissioned report said the train operator faced "signficant challenges" meeting its punctuality commitments in two years.
The train operator, run by Dutch transport firm Abellio is projecting that it will be 2021 before it reached a target annual average target of 92.5 per cent of services running on time.
Consultancy firm Nichols in an analysis for the regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, says the train operator's performance must significantly improve if it is to meet its agreed targets.
Abellio is expected to hit a target of 92.5% of trains arriving at their final destination within five minutes of the advertised time, according to the terms of the ScotRail franchise. It came as ScotRail customers were faced with another day of disruption, with nearly 20 cancelled train journeys and nearly 100 reduced services due to carriage cuts - a major cause of overcrowding.
One passenger needed treatment after collapsing on a downsized train in South Lanarkshire with fellow travellers blaming it on overcrowding.
One passenger said I know, as soon as I seen it was 3 carriages I knew there would be trouble: "As soon as I saw it was three carriages I knew there would be trouble!"
The woman was said to have been taken off the train at Uddingston on a stretcher while given oxygen by paramedics. ScotRail consequently warned of services running through Uddingston would be cancelled or delayed.
Thursday's issues were again blamed on training issues with new trains leading to staff shortages, while strikes and dealing with train faults also impacted.
A group of Fife MPs called a meeting with ScotRail chief executive Alex Hynes over passenger complaints.
Jenny Gilruth MSP, David Torrance MSP, Annabelle Ewing, MSP for Cowdenbeath constituency and Shirley-Anne Somerville confronted the after Fife experienced a large number of cancellations and delays as a result of crew shortages, caused by driver training.
Jenny Gilruth MSP said: "This is not a new issue, but those of us who regularly commute from Fife to Edinburgh will know that services have been particularly affected over the December period.
"I am, however, grateful to Alex Hynes for meeting with my colleagues and I to discuss our constituents rightful concerns. Fife’s MSPs were all assured that the Kingdom is an absolute priority for Scotrail. But we now need to see concrete action."
Abellio also faced criticism as its parent firm NS reported outstanding performance and soaring customer satisfaction, in the Netherlands where customers have a 95.5 per cent chance of getting a peak-time seat.
The latest four weekly measurement of ScotRail's public performance measure (PPM) punctuality target for a period to December 8, before the new winter timetable came in, stands at 88.4%. It means the moving annual average is 87.3%, meaning that around one in eight services were not running on time.
Transport secretary Michael Matheson had warned Abellio it could be stripped of the franchise if its performance does not improve.
On Tuesday, he reported improvements and that on that day and on Monday ScotRail had "appropriately trained crew for all services".
ScotRail has till February 19 to submit a plan to address falling performance levels which if unsuccessful could result in a breach of contract and lead to Abellio losing the ScotRail franchise early. The train operator has apologised to customers and says its staff are working "flat out" to make the service better.
Nichols, which was asked by ORR to judge how well ScotRail was complying with a 2017 review by Nick Donovan on how the train operator is performing, acknowledged there was a ‘can do’, collaborative approach to performance improvement and evidence of innovation.
But it said ScotRail faces a "significant challenge" in raising its punctuality performance.
"Performance of the railway in Scotland needs to significantly improve and it is acknowledged that this is a priority for Transport Scotland and other stakeholders," the report said.
"Our discussions with the Alliance team, both in their offices and on site, confirm that this is fully understood at all levels, and that very significant effort is being made to deliver improvements through the implementation of the Donovan recommendations.
And it concluded: "Despite the evidence of significant activity in regard to the implementation of the recommendations since the publication of the Donovan Report, there has been a further decline in performance and this raises questions about when the positive effects from implementation of the recommendations will materialise....".
A ScotRail Alliance spokesman said the rail operator acknowledges performance has not been good enough.
He said: "We're really sorry to customers for the recent disruption to services. We know the impact this has on your day and are working flat out to get things back to normal.
"Actions from the Donovan Review have been praised in the Nichols report, and these actions have seen the banning of skip-stopping except as a last resort and improvements in train reliability.
"But our performance is not where we want it to be, and as this year progresses our customers will see improvements."
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