Below is the response I received from the Cabinet Secretary for transport to a written question I submitted as a result of the volume of complaints I was getting about the poor rail service being experienced in Fife. He seems to think the problems people are facing on a daily basis in Fife have been the fault of recent industrial action. However, any commuter will know that these problems have been ongoing for some time, and started long before any industrial action commenced.
Interestingly, I have had passengers getting in touch with me in the last few days claiming that the resolution of the industrial action and ending of the work to rule, as well as the the introduction of a new timetable, is still not making any improvements to services. We are simply back to the situation of people still experiencing delays, cancellations, overcrowded trains and general poor service.
I would urge all passengers who are having bad experiences and poor service on the trains to continue to report these so we can maintain a focused campaign for the improvements that rail services in Fife desperately need.
It is not the fault of industrial action that has resulted in this continued experience of poor service. ScotRail has been operating poorly for years, and we need to bring an end to this current franchise that is so badly failing our transport needs in Scotland.
SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT
WRITTEN ANSWER
13 December 2018
Index Heading: Transport Scotland
Alex Rowley (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-01371 by Michael Matheson on 4 December 2018 (Official Report, c. 3), what action is being taken by ScotRail in response to reports of an increase in the scale and frequency of (a) overcrowding and (b) cancellations on the Fife Circle; what work it is carrying out to ensure that the overall customer experience on these services improves, and how it will monitor the effectiveness of this.
S5W-20372
Michael Matheson: The Member will be aware that the industrial action over rest day working impacted significantly on ScotRail’s recent performance on the Fife Circle, notably the level of cancellations which subsequently impacted on overcrowded services. You will be pleased to note a deal to resolve the dispute has been agreed and the work to rule action withdrawn and this will see services impacted by industrial action returning to normal.
When all the HST trains are in service ScotRail will redeploy some of the existing class 170 trains to Fife and this will mean more peak trains will be formed of 6 carriages and off peak services will generally be 3 carriages.
ScotRail is delivering a programme of performance improvement initiatives, including changes to maintenance regimes for infrastructure and rolling stock on Fife routes,
ScotRail’s performance and actions being delivered to support performance improvement are challenged, monitored and discussed between Transport Scotland officials and the ScotRail Alliance at regular forums.
