More than £1.5m paid out in ScotRail compensation since nationalisation, figures show

More than £1.5m has been paid out in compensation by ScotRail since the service was nationalised, according to new figures.

The rail service was brought into public ownership in 2022 after a slew of failings by former operator Abellio.

Figures released to the Scottish Tories under freedom of information legislation showed a total of £1,526,649.92 was paid out since April 1 2022 as a result of delays, cancellations or disruptions.

Scottish Tory transport spokesman Graham Simpson described the level of compensation as “absolutely staggering” and called for the Scottish Government to come up with a plan to improve the country’s railway.

“Taxpayers are footing an enormous bill as a result of the SNP typically overpromising and underdelivering,” he said.

“Nicola Sturgeon and other senior SNP figures promised a bright new future for our railways under nationalisation, but the exact opposite has occurred.

“Suffering passengers have had to endure endless delays, cancellations and disruption to services as a result of the overwhelming failures from successive SNP transport ministers.

“Within weeks, journeys had been axed and an emergency timetable had to be put in place.”

He added: “Given Fiona Hyslop now has a sole focus on transport in the SNP cabinet, she must urgently outline a real vision for the rail network.

“She should be pulling out all the stops to encourage people onto public transport and to reduce these compensation payments.”

Transport Scotland said compensation cases represent a tiny fraction of the millions of trips made by customers in the last two years.

A spokesperson said: “The number of compensation cases paid out since April 1, 2022 until January of this year represents approximately 0.07% of almost 126 million journeys made in the same period.

“Any disruption to passengers is regrettable and it is only right that ScotRail do all they can to compensate where journeys are delayed or cancelled.

“Rather than make misinformed comments about past disruption – particularly when blame for over £1m of the compensation lies elsewhere – we are focused on ensuring the publicly owned ScotRail is a success.”