Abellio has announced that its ScotRail franchise will be ended early, with operations moving over to another operator.
The franchise will end in 2022, rather than the original 2025.
Abellio will be working closely with the new operator, chosen by the Scottish Government, from 2023 to 2025.
Abellio also notes that it will have to start a procurement process under the old DfT franchising process.
The next five years is a significant period for Scotland's Railway – Transport Scotland will be aware that there are a number of projects and investments such as preparing for a fully decarbonised railway by 2035.
What did the officials say?
Dominic Booth, Managing Director of Abellio UK, said:
“We are hugely disappointed by this decision and believe it's the wrong choice for Scotland's Railway and its customers.
“Abellio has invested more than £475million in new and upgraded trains, added 23 per cent more seats for customers and created more than 500 extra jobs in Scotland since the start of the franchise in 2015 – the biggest investment in trains and stations in over 150 years.
“Our offer to Transport Scotland would have delivered an improved service for our customers at a reduced cost to the taxpayer.
“We will remain fully committed to running a safe and reliable service until the end of the contract in 2022. While this decision creates unnecessary uncertainty for more than 5,200 staff and our customers, we will maintain our focus on delivering vital projects for Scotland's Railway and seeing through the delivery of significant customer benefits until 2022.”
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Something doesn’t smell quite right here; Scottish politics are my no.1 suspect, having let Abellio equip Scotland with a lot of new rolling stock then show them the door. Fishy….!
Maybe it’s to do with the SNP (Scottish National Party) who wants Scotland out of the UK and to remain in the EU. And by doing that Abellio is to lose its ScotRail franchise and could be taken over by the Scottish Government from March 2022.
Plus with 10 extra Class 385 units to be built as it will total the whole fleet from 70 Class 385 (46 Class 385/0 3-Car and 24 Class 385/1 4-Car) to 80 Class 385 (56 Class 385/0 and 24 Class 385/1).