ScotRail renationalised after Abellio loses franchise

Scotland’s railways were renationalised on Friday, as the Scottish Government took over operations from the previous franchise holder Abellio.

A new government-owned company would now run ScotRail’s services and more-than-5,000 employees, after the Dutch transport company had its contract cut short amid ongoing complaints.

First minister Nicola Sturgeon marked the occasion - 25 years to the day after the privatisation of Scotland’s trains under John Major - in a ceremony at Glasgow Queen Street station.

“Everyone involved has worked extremely hard to deliver the smooth transition of ScotRail into public control and ownership,” Sturgeon said.

“This new beginning creates a real opportunity to deliver a railway which is for the nation, and fully focused on being run for the benefit of its users - customers, staff and stakeholders, as opposed to shareholders.”

ScotRail operates all suburban, commuter and regional services in Scotland, as well as some cross-border services into the north of England.

It is also responsible for managing almost all railway stations in Scotland, except for the large hubs at Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central, which are managed by Network Rail.

The track and infrastructure is still owned by the Britain-wide government-owned Network Rail, although the entire railway is set to be rolled into ‘Great British Railways’ from 2023.

Great British Railways will see the old franchise system finally laid to rest, with train services being directly contracted by the government and ticketing and timetables being set nationally.

It will also use a single, unified brand based on British Rail’s ‘double arrows’ - currently used by the Rail Delivery Group’s ‘National Rail’ brand - although a specific regional variation to the branding has been promised for Scotlant.

Abellio - a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dutch state-owned railway operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen - lost the last three years of its franchise rights after failing to meet performance criteria.

Its other UK rail operations include Greater Anglia, in partnership with Mitsui; Merseyrail in a joint venture with Serco; and West Midlands Trains alongside the East Japan Railway Company.

It also operates the East Midlands Railway franchise on its own, and has TfL-contracted bus operations in Greater London.