Sturgeon 'will consider' ScotRail fare freeze

There has been criticism of delays, cancellations and overcrowding on the ScotRail network

Scotland's first minister has said she will consider freezing the country's train fares next year amid concern over the reliability of ScotRail services.

Nicola Sturgeon was responding to a Labour proposal to freeze fares in order to "give passengers a break".

ScotRail's regulated fares are due to rise in January.

The increases would see a passenger using an annual season ticket to travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow having to pay £71 more next year.

Speaking at First Minister's Questions, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale highlighted fresh disruption at Glasgow Central station on Thursday morning, with a points failure leading to delays and cancellations.

It came the day after ScotRail declared a major incident after finding a broken insulator between Partick and Glasgow Central, which caused disruption and cancellations between Glasgow Central and Dalmuir, Milngavie and Maryhill.

'Deserve a break'

Ms Dugdale said: "I think passengers deserve a break and that is why today Labour is publishing plan to freeze all regulated rail fares next year.

"Surely the first minister agrees with us that people deserve a break. She has the power to give them one. So will she back Labour's call for a 2017 rail fare freeze?"

Labour has said it believes the proposal will cost between £1.9m and £2.2m.

Ms Sturgeon responded by saying that "of course we will consider any proposal that is put forward", but added that the government would particularly look at how the proposal would be paid for.

She added: "We have an investment package that I have spoken about that it is important that we are able to implement and deliver.

"Of course we do not want to see rail fares increase any more than is absolutely necessary. That is why we at the moment have increases in rail fares that are at their lowest level since power over railways were devolved to this parliament in 2005.

"We see peak time rail fare increases limited to inflation. Off peak rail fair increases are actually limited to inflation minus one percent."

Kezia Dugdale (left) called on Ms Sturgeon to freeze rail prices next year

Dutch firm Abellio took over the ScotRail franchise in April last year in a 10-year deal worth up to £6bn but with the option for the Scottish government to cancel it at the halfway point.

ScotRail's figures remained better than the average for all UK train operators - with the company also enjoying better than average customer satisfaction figures when the latest data was published earlier this year.

But its contract commits ScotRail to ensuring that 91.3% of trains arrive within five minutes of schedule, which is the UK standard for punctuality.

The latest figures suggests ScotRail is currently achieving 89.8% over the past year and 86% over the last month - lower than the target, but slightly above the UK average.

The Scottish government has said that performance is not good enough, and ScotRail was ordered to implement an improvement plan last month which has not yet been made public.

'ScotRail fleet'

But after being pressed on the issue by Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson, Ms Sturgeon told MSPs that ScotRail would publish the 246-point plan in full within the next few days.

She added: "There is a summary of all of these action points that is already on ScotRail's website that any member of the chamber, and member of the public indeed, can read.

"What they cover are improvements to infrastructure, improvements to the Scotrail fleet and improvements to operations.

"And of course all of this is backed by an investment of £5bn over the remainder of this decade in improving our rail services."

Ms Davidson claimed the rail network had been a "shambles", and questioned why it had taken the Scottish government a month to reveal what it was doing to improve services.

She also questioned Ms Sturgeon on the Scottish government's plans to prepare a public sector bid for the ScotRail franchise when the current contract ends.

Ms Sturgeon said the SNP had made a manifesto commitment to preparing a public sector bid, thanks to recently devolved powers, and would now start making plans to ensure that is possible.