TRAIN delays are hurting Ayrshire according to a local MSP, who has criticised the Scottish Government’s handling of its rail network.
West of Scotland MSP Jamie Greene highlighted that last month a number of rush hour trains were abruptly cancelled after a train broke down between Dalry and Kilwinning.

He said: “The people of Ayrshire won’t stand for the state of our railways for much longer. This has been going on for too long, many people across my region are commuters and rely on trains for their livelihood. Instead of getting on with their lives these people are either stuck waiting on a cold platform or inside a packed train whilst they wait for it to be rescued from the tracks.”

New research shows that these train delays are costing the Scottish economy £233,000 per day, or £83 for every minute of delay.
But when Mr Greene grilled the Transport Minister Humza Yousaf in a Holyrood Committee a few weeks ago, Mr Yousaf said: “I am no expert in transport.” 

Mr Greene added: “The impact on the everyday man and woman is not just through inconveniencing them, the hit to the local economy is severe. Having a good link between our rural and urban areas means that jobs can be brought to places like Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and Ayrshire, but if you remove that link we’re going to see these jobs stay in our cities. These delays are clearly failing commuters and tourists alike and the Scottish Government should be doing more to get our trains back to a working standard.”

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Humza Yousaf said that he plans to make an urgent statement to Parliament this week about improvements to Scotland’s railways.

Mr Yousaf said ScotRail is not providing a “poor service” but is not at an “acceptable standard” and has agreed to face questions at Holyrood on the future of ScotRail services after criticism of current operator Abellio.

Speaking about the railway network in Scotland overall, he said: “It’s not a poor service, let’s just put this into perspective – 89.8, that’s almost 90 trains out of 100 are running to their contractually obligated time. That’s not to say there aren’t problems and there aren’t issues.”