'I WAS intrigued to hear that the Scottish Government has contingency plans to run the nation’s railways if ScotRail does not improve its performance.

Transport Minister, Michael Matheson, recently told the Scottish Parliament that they have various contracts with consultants and agencies who would support the Scottish Government in the event of them having to employ an operator of last resort.

Many residents in Fife will be only too familiar with the failings of ScotRail in providing a good service, especially trains travelling on the Fife Circle Line.

Commuters in Fife have been particularly badly hit with cancellations, delayed services and overcrowded trains, often making their travelling time a complete misery. And matters came to a head in August when hundreds of passengers faced major disruption to rail services at Waverley Rail station, in Edinburgh, on a Saturday night following an international rugby match and events at the Edinburgh Festival. Many of these passengers lived in Fife.

The Fife Circle Line has been dogged with problems for some time, with a staggering 110 peak-time journeys on it being cancelled between April and September last year. Of these figures, 42% occurred between Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy, with 31% taking place between Edinburgh and Cardenden during this period.

Last year, ScotRail was fined £2,241,837 by Transport Scotland for breaching a series of targets, including customer service and security, as well as for having unclean trains, toilets and stations between January and June 2018.

I previously raised the matter of trains failing to stop at scheduled stations in Fife at the Scottish Parliament. And the situation with the Fife Circle Line was so bad earlier this year due to delays, cancellations and overcrowded trains that ScotRail chief, Alex Hynes, agreed to answer questions from Fife commuters at a meeting held in Kirkcaldy back in February.

However, many commuters were ironically unable to attend the event due to a rush-hour train scheduled to run from Edinburgh to Kirkcaldy being cancelled.

ScotRail have faced criticism for years, with passenger satisfaction slumping to its lowest level in 15 years in December. Mr Matheson had told MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Economy and Connectivity committee, that the rail operator was “making good progress” in a range of different provisions that had been set out in a remedial plan.

And the week before this, Alex Hynes, the Managing Director of ScotRail had told the same committee that the company was going to embark on a review of their planning ahead of large events following the debacle at Waverley Rail station in August.

It is a sad indictment of ScotRail that the Scottish Government is considering implementing a plan to operate the country’s railways as a last resort'.