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Meeting of the Parliament 30 May 2013

30 May 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Scotland’s Railways

Brown, Keith SNP Clackmannanshire and Dunblane Watch on SPTV

Scotland’s railways are in the midst of a transformation and there is a real success story to tell. Now is the right time to take account of our achievements as we plan for the next franchise and rail investment periods.

The network performance is up and passenger satisfaction reached a high this year, which confirmed that rail’s performance impacts significantly on passengers’ opinions of the rail system. I congratulate Network Rail and First ScotRail on their efforts. Although we have benefited from a relatively mild winter, that reflects their successful collaboration. Whether it is in services, lines, rolling stock or performance, we recognise that there is more to do, but there is a good story to tell about what has been done so far.

An example is that passenger figures today are higher than they were in the last golden age of rail in the 1920s and 1930s. Last year, there were a staggering 83 million passenger journeys in Scotland, which was a 33 per cent increase since the start of the current franchise. That figure undermines the Beeching assumption that rail would lose out to the car and rail passenger numbers would wither. This Government has been instrumental in reversing some of the Beeching cuts and creating for Scotland the possibility of a new golden age of rail. Nothing illustrates that more clearly than our commitment to the new Borders railway line: a link that has been broken for 40 years will reconnect communities in the Scottish Borders and Midlothian with our nation’s capital.

We have recently seen the positive impact of bringing communities together, with the reopening earlier this year of Conon Bridge station in the Highlands. We have also completed phase 1 of the Highlands main line project, which has provided two additional services from 2011 and has meant, from December 2012, journey time improvements of up to 18 minutes on some services.

Further south, in the central belt, the Airdrie to Bathgate line project, which received cross-party support in Parliament, has provided a new through line from the west of Scotland to Edinburgh, with new stations and new travel opportunities. We have ensured that our new stations are accessible by offering step-free access for people with reduced mobility, and we have increased the number of accessible stations in Scotland.

We have made passenger journeys more comfortable by investing more than £430 million in new electric and refurbished rolling stock.

We are enhancing the passenger experience by providing wi-fi and modern, appropriate facilities. We are making strides towards better integration of rail services, and between rail services and other modes. Our commitment is manifest in the recent opening of Scotland’s first rail-cycle hub in Stirling. That exciting three-year pilot will offer expert knowledge on local roads and cycling facilities. It will also raise the profile of greener active transport options to reach our rail stations.

In respect of cross-border rail, there have been huge successes, with unprecedented passenger growth—more than 144 per cent on the Glasgow to London route since 2008. Last year, after much pressure from Scotland, we finally saw the introduction of a full hourly service between Glasgow and London. We have also seen the extension to London of Edinburgh to Birmingham services, which has opened up new connectivity for passengers. The recent announcement of an additional 2,500 seats a day on services between Scotland and Birmingham underlines the importance of Scotland to the United Kingdom rail market and dispels the myth that we do not need more passenger and network capacity north of Preston.

Yet, despite huge passenger growth between Scotland and Birmingham—more than 261 per cent since 2008—the role of the Scottish people in determining the specification of the franchise on the arterial east and west coast main lines is extremely limited; we remain at the mercy of Westminster. I have long argued that the prevailing UK legislation prevents me from being empowered to act in the interests of Scotland. On cross-border issues, rather than Scotland being treated in a subordinate manner, we should be equals.

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Meeting of the Parliament 30 May 2013

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