Meeting of the Parliament 14 November 2018
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I know that time is short but, in the absence of a positive response from Mr Smyth, I will highlight a recent statement that was made by David Parker, who is the convener of the Scottish Borders Council. He has recognised ScotRail’s positive engagement in maximising the Government’s investment in providing rail services to residents of Midlothian and the central Borders. Councillor Parker stated:
“I have been very impressed with the team at Abellio ScotRail who have worked very hard to make the Borders Railway a success and are continuing to focus on improvements.”
Importantly, he also said:
“Transport Scotland and Abellio ScotRail deserve credit for managing the enormous investment that is taking place in Scotland’s railways at the moment and for passengers, the benefits of those improvements will be felt very strongly in the year ahead.”
If Mr Parker can recognise that, perhaps Mr Smyth might do so in the future.
As the Parliament will be aware, 63 per cent of the delays on our railways are the responsibility of Network Rail. Timetabling has been centralised in Milton Keynes. There have been issues with vehicles being left on the tracks. [Interruption.] It is not just wet weather, Mr Smyth—the member might want to dig into the details.