Railways Need an Overhaul

For a passenger, what they need from the railway is simple. They buy a ticket, which should allow them to reach their destination safely, comfortably and punctually.

ScotRail's passengers are generally reasonably satisfied with their journeys - 88%% of them according to the latest Transport Focus Rail User Survey. It should be a routine experience, unremarkable, trustworthy and predictable.

Despite this, railways remain a constant source of political interest and debate. It is a high-profile part of the transport portfolio, funding of which was devolved to Holyrood in 2006.

Last year expenditure on the network was £1.17 billion. This is a significant commitment that affects everyone, even if they do not use trains.

Much of the political focus is on the merits of privatisation or nationalisation rather than what people want from the railways and how best to provide it.

Selling the railway in the 1990s was meant to unleash a new energy into the system. The Major government's approach split the tracks from the trains, so ScotRail no longer controlled the infrastructure on which its trains ran. It no longer owned the trains themselves. Train services were contracted through franchises, with minimum timetables being specified in return for subsidy.

Between the 1990s and the pandemic, passenger numbers in Scotland grew by two-thirds. Advocates of the private sector have made bold claims that this was enabled by reducing state control, although the franchise contracts were much more detailed and controlling than the rules under which British Rail operated.

The ongoing recovery after the Covid restrictions has been dented by industrial relations issues, and changes to travel patterns driven by flexible working.

The passenger should not need to know what is going on behind the scenes, but it is a matter for public interest given the expenditure involved. Industry professionals find themselves describing a complicated industry, with numerous organisations involved in funding and managing the network.

Explaining how Transport Scotland, Scottish Rail Holdings and other bodies interact with those operating the day-to-day railway is not simple, let alone the functions of the Office of Rail and Road or Network Rail. Privatisation replaced a relatively simple "vertically-integrated" railway with a complex environment of contracts and regulation.

The infrastructure was renationalised in 2002, and the ScotRail and Sleeper contracts returned to the public sector in 2022 and 2023, ending the privatisation process. Yet the complex structures and rules remain in place. Decision-making has become very slow, given the number of bodies involved and what has been perceived as reluctance to make any choices in case they turn out to be wrong.

Partly, this is driven by many of the people involved, including ministers, not expecting to be in the same positions when the change are made. Choices about future rolling stock, services and fares seem to be slow and opaque. Any potentially controversial decision is inevitably protracted with politicians and advisers seeking to avoid bad news.

Yet even though Scotland funds its own railway, there are still significant links to the British network. Cross-border passenger and freight services are, and will remain, important in Scotland. Any future changes need to reflect their importance in driving economic growth, sustainability and social cohesion.

Change is on the way - the UK government has set out its plans for a single body, Great British Railways (GBR), that will manage both track and train. For the user, the future could be much better. For the professionals running the service, radical change could let them manage, release frustrations, as well as reduce costs. It is not a matter of who owns the railway but getting the professionals, officials and politicians working together to play to their respective strengths. A reliable, efficient railway should be within reach.