Long suffering commuters increasingly want action about the state of our rail network. What do you think?
Should our rail network be brought into public ownership?
- Yes
- 226
- No
- 27
The crisis on Scotland’s railways is coming to a head.
There was chaos on the network this week when the breakdown of one train at a crucial spot just outside Edinburgh’s Waverley station caused a knock-on effect across huge parts of Scotland.
It was, of course, bad luck. The incident, as operator Abellio said, happened at the wrong place, in the wrong circumstances, at the wrong time.
Problem is, on a properly functioning network, while people would have been annoyed, they would have forgotten about it in a day.
However, Scotrail’s long-suffering customers have had to deal with overcrowding, regular cancellations and delays since the Dutch company took up the franchise on April Fools Day, 2015.
The Waverley incident seemed to crystalise popular discontent and it has led to calls for transport minister Humza Yousaf to resign.
He won’t do that – but he has said that Abellio is on a warning and said it faces “serious consequences” if things don’t improve.
His government has also faced criticisms of not taking Scotrail into public ownership sooner – something the SNP administration said it couldn’t do then – but could now.
This has amplified the calls for the network to be nationalised.
And that’s what we’re asking in this poll.
Should our rail network be brought into public ownership? Vote now and get the debate going by leaving a comment.
