THE transport minister said that train drivers were to blame for a state-owned ScotRail move to cut a third of all services from next week.
Jenny Gilruth said the move that will see some 700 train services slashed from the ScotRail timetable from May 23 was the result of some drivers not taking up the option of working overtime on Sundays and on rest days.
The train drivers union Aslef said this was the product of the Scotland's Railway always been "understaffed", meaning it is relying on drivers working out of hours, including Sundays, as the services runs on a six-day a week basis not seven.
A summer national rail strike is moving closer with the unions National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) and Aslef at deadlock in a series of pay disputes with both ScotRail and Network Rail, the owners of the infrastructure, including signals and tracks.
The minister spoke after West Scotland Scottish Conservative MSP Russell Findlay quizzed the transport minister over what was going on.
"At this rate they'll have more ferries than trains," he said. "This will cause absolute misery for passengers up and down the country. Minister, do you share ScotRail's view that the unions and drivers are to blame and if not, who's responsible for another calamitous chapter in SNP's nationalised rail."
Ms Gilruth said: "I do not agree with the characterization from Mr Findlay of this government's handling of bringing rail services into public ownership. However, to reflect on some of the substantive points he has made today, today we have seen 225 services affected with 138 full cancellations.
"So I'd encourage any passengers to please check online in terms of the availability of services today.
"Mr Findlay is correct, that due to some drivers not taking up the option of overtime Sunday and rest day working, ScotRail has announced today plans to run a temporary reduced timetable from May 23, which is next week, to give a more stable and reliable service for passengers.
"We know that people want certainty when they travel, and ScotRail has looked at how best to give that certainty during what is a really challenging time for passengers and I recognise that absolutely.
"The temporary timetable will see services reduced by a level but ScotRail will keep that under review which is hugely important."
She said an extension to rest day working arrangements and additional payments for staff was negotiated with Aslef and it continues to be in place until October of this year.
"But again, I would just appeal to trade unions who of course, campaigned so strongly for public ownership to come back to the table to negotiate an agreement so that we can deliver on the timetable expectations..."
Scottish Conservatives transport spokesperson Graham Simpson asked the minister how long the "devastating" cuts will go on for.
Ms Gilruth said: "The situation will be kept under review. I think it is worth saying that of course without Covid and the impact on training, ScotRail would have seen an extra 130 drivers by this point.
"That would have eliminated ScotRail's need for drivers to work overtime and rest days but I will be speaking to ScotRail later this week to ask for that update that Mr Simpson has requested, and I'd be more than happy to share any further details on that with him."
ScotRail said the service cuts were the result of the" ongoing impact of a significant number of drivers declining to make themselves available for overtime or rest day working", following an announcement by the drivers’ union Aslef that it will ballot for industrial action over pay.
The new transport headache for the Scottish Government has come as it supported a half-price rail fare offer which ended on Sunday to try and entice people back onto trains in the wake of Covid pandemic restrictions being lifted.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel