ScotRail: £1.5m compensation handed out to rail passengers since ScotRail nationalised

Rail bosses have handed over more than £1.5 million in compensation since SNP ministers took charge of ScotRail.

More than £1.5 million has been paid out in compensation by ScotRail since the service was nationalised, according to new figures – but two thirds of the tally was caused by factors out of the company’s hands.

The rail service was brought into public ownership by the Scottish Government in 2022 after a host of failings by former operator Abellio.

Figures released to the Scottish Conservatives under Freedom of Information legislation showed a total of £1,526,649.92 was paid out since April 1, 2022 as a result of delays, cancellations or disruptions.

ScotRail has handed out more than £1.5m in compensation since the company was nationalised by the Scottish Government ,Jane Barlow/PA Wire

It is understood, however, that £1 million of the compensation claims were made due to issues outwith the operator’s control – such as infrastructure run by different companies, industrial action, adverse weather and trespassing.

Transport bosses have taken a dig at the Conservatives over their “misinformed comments” about the compensation.

But Scottish Tory transport spokesman Graham Simpson described the level of compensation as “absolutely staggering” and called for the Scottish Government to come up with a plan to improve the country’s railway.

“Taxpayers are footing an enormous bill as a result of the SNP typically overpromising and underdelivering,” he said. “Nicola Sturgeon and other senior SNP figures promised a bright new future for our railways under nationalisation, but the exact opposite has occurred.

“Suffering passengers have had to endure endless delays, cancellations and disruption to services as a result of the overwhelming failures from successive SNP transport ministers. Within weeks, journeys had been axed and an emergency timetable had to be put in place.”

He added: “Given [minister] Fiona Hyslop now has a sole focus on transport in the SNP Cabinet, she must urgently outline a real vision for the rail network. She should be pulling out all the stops to encourage people onto public transport and to reduce these compensation payments.”

Phil Campbell, director of customer operations for ScotRail, said the operator was “absolutely committed” to delivering the best service.

He said: “The number of compensation cases paid since April 1 is equal to just 0.07 per cent of almost 126 million customer journeys and the overwhelming majority of those claims related to incidents outwith the control of ScotRail.

“These include severe weather resulting in disruption or line closure and infrastructure issues or track improvements. It is always unfortunate to see any disruption across the rail network and we know this is frustrating for ScotRail customers, and everyone at ScotRail is working hard to ensure reliability and performance of our services.”

Statistics show that between April 1, 2022 and January 6, 2024, 88,762 compensation claims were made against 125,999,000 passenger journeys on ScotRail services. Over the same period, 1,173,162 trains were planned with 38,035 cancelled, making up 3.24 per cent of journeys.

A spokeswoman for Transport Scotland said: “The number of compensation cases paid out since April 1, 2022 until January of this year represents approximately 0.07 per cent of almost 126 million journeys made in the same period.

“Rather than make misinformed comments about past disruption, particularly when blame for over £1m of the compensation lies elsewhere, we are focused on ensuring the publicly owned ScotRail is a success.”