Almost 6,000 ScotRail trains cancelled in last four months, new figures show

Almost 6,000 trains have been cancelled by ScotRail in the last four months, according to new figures.

Figures obtained by the Scottish Conservatives via a Freedom of Information request reveal that between April and July 2024, 5,774 ScotRail trains were either fully or partially cancelled.

The FOI response also revealed that cancellations in those months have cost the nationalised rail company over a quarter of a million pounds in compensation payments to passengers.

Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson described the number of cancellations as “eye-watering” and urged the SNP’s transport secretary to urgently “get a grip on the chaos” on Scotland’s railways and deliver the reliable service the SNP promised with nationalisation over two years ago.

Simpson said: “In the last few months alone, passengers have had to endure close to 6,000 trains being either fully or partly cancelled which is completely unacceptable.

“These endless cancellations fly in the face of Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP promising a bright new dawn for passengers two years ago and this situation shows no sign of improving any time soon.

“On top of currently having to deal with cuts to services, passengers found out this week that they will be hit by huge price hikes as of next month.

“These cancellations not only make passengers late for work, appointments or meeting family and friends, but they also hit the taxpayer in the pocket, with compensation payments since nationalising now close to £2 million.

“The SNP’s transport secretary needs to get a grip on the chaos on Scotland’s railways and urgently ensure that the affordable, reliable and sustainable ScotRail that was promised by the SNP in 2022 is finally delivered.”

Earlier this summer, ScotRail cut services by more than a quarter as part of a temporary timetable due to staff shortages amid a pay dispute.

The temporary timetable involves 1,660 services operating daily from Monday to Saturday, compared with the usual level of around 2,250, a cut of 26%.

Mark Ilderton, service delivery director at ScotRail, said: “In recent months, we have seen in an increase in cancellations, and we’re sorry to customers for the disruption they’ve faced during this time.

“We introduced a temporary timetable in July to provide customers with some certainty and reliability while pay talks with the trade unions took place. We want to resolve the pay dispute with the trade unions as soon as possible and restore our timetable to normal.

“Having trains running on time is one of the most important factors for people travelling across the country, and we continue to work hard to improve train performance.

“Regardless of why delays or cancellations occur, we know how frustrating it is for customers. So it’s right that they have the opportunity to be refunded when this happens.

“Anyone delayed by 30 minutes or more is entitled to compensation through our Delay Repay Guarantee, and can claim on the ScotRail website or mobile app.

“We are absolutely committed to delivering the best possible service for customers throughout the country, and ScotRail will continue to keep a firm focus on performance across the network.”

Last week, the Scottish Government announced peak rail fares will be re-introduced on ScotRail services from next month.

A one-year pilot scheme, which cost around £40m to introduce and saved some customers thousands of pounds, will end on September 27.

The Scottish Government said analysis showed “a limited increase in the number of passengers” and it did not encourage a “significant modal shift” from car to rail, and pledged to consider a “future subsidy”.

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “There is no doubt that this has been a challenging period for rail travel but Ministers are hopeful that services can get back to normal soon and Scotland’s Railway continues to grow.

Since ScotRail moved into public sector, passenger numbers are up by 75% from 46.7 million in 2021/22 to around 82 million in 2023/24. This makes ScotRail one of the fastest growing operators, with one of the best passenger satisfaction rates.

“The progress on pay talks, with the unions’ recommendation to their National Executive that the latest offer is taken to a members’ referendum, is welcome. Ministers would encourage those involved to vote to accept this fair and affordable pay deal to enable ScotRail to return to the previous timetable of around 2,250 services per day – the highest since pre-covid.

“While the Peak Fares Removal Pilot was a welcome incentive over the last 12 months, it simply isn’t sustainable in the longer term. The Scottish Government would be open to consider future subsidy to remove peak fares should UK budget allocations to the Scottish Government improve in future years.

In the meantime, a significant minority of people who cannot choose when they travel to and from work did and would benefit from lower priced rail travel.

“These include people working in retail and hospitality, so a 12-month discount on all ScotRail season tickets has been introduced, and the terms of flexipasses have been amended to create the, equivalent of a 20% discount. It would be most welcome if organisations like SLTA and the Scottish Retail Consortium could help promote these changes to their employees.”