Scotrail boss to be quizzed by MSPs

ScotRail has faced criticism over its performance ahead of an appearance by its managing director at a Holyrood committee. Alex Hynes will give evidence to MSPs on Wednesday on rail services in Scotland.

His appearance before the Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee follows a challenging few days for the railway operator after Scottish Labour claimed it was facing record fines'' of up to £1.6 million for service and performance slips.

ScotRail hit 22 of their 34 aims in the first three months of this year, sparking the penalties, which they insist are not fines but rather part of a reinvestment fund''.

The train firm said its recent performance has been the best for more than six months.

Labour's transport spokesman Colin Smyth said: This appearance could not be more timely.

ScotRail is facing record fines for its repeated failure to meet standards of service and performance continues to plummet.''

He added: Behind these figures are hard-pressed passengers paying ever increasing fares for ever decreasing performance.

Labour previously revealed that some commuters are paying up to a fifth of their wages on commuting costs.''

Mr Smyth called for railways to be taken into public ownership.

His Liberal Democrat counterpart Mike Rumbles questioned Transport Minister Humza Yousaf at Holyrood on Tuesday on Scotrail's performance.

Mr Yousaf told MSPs he spoke to Mr Hynes at the weekend regarding performance, and that action plans are in place and recent improvements have been made.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Rumbles said: ScotRail has produced a dire scorecard and is slipping well below standards when it comes to skip stopping, cleanliness, seating and much more.

Most embarrassingly of all, only 57% of trains are actually making it to their destination on time, a fairly basic requirement.''

ScotRail said that 92% of trains arrived within five minutes of their scheduled time, having stopped at all scheduled stations in the four-week period to 30 April.

The railway operator said it marked their best performance since September 16 2017.

The figures coincide with changes to skip-stopping policy, scrapping the practice unless no other option is available, such as a station being closed or a train being diverted due to an accident.

In the four weeks, 66 out of 58,600 trains skipped stops, down 72% on the previous four weeks.

Last week, just four trains skipped stops due to incidents.

Mr Hynes said: We take seriously all customer feedback and we appreciate how frustrated they have been with skip stopping.

One of the key performance measures we've implemented is removing skip stopping except as an absolute last resort.''

He said customers would continue to see improvements as the year progresses.