November 18, 2019 Blog

LABOUR LAYS OUT BOLD PLAN FOR TRANSPORT AT TRAIN STATIONS ACROSS SCOTLAND

This morning at rush hour Labour and trade union activists took to several train stations across Scotland to lay out Labour’s bold plan for public transport.

Labour promises to end the underperforming private ScotRail franchise, bring the railways into public ownership and build a public transport system fit for the future.

In October Scottish Labour revealed that 75,000 trains had been cancelled – an average of 50 a day – since the start of Dutch state operator Abellio’s ScotRail franchise.

Activists from Labour, the TSSA and ASLEF handed out leaflets and spoke to commuters this morning at stations such as Glasgow Queen Street, Linlithgow, Motherwell, Lockerbie and Kirkcaldy and will be at Edinburgh Haymarket this afternoon.

Standing alongside rail workers and transport campaigners at Glasgow Queen Street Station this morning Scottish Labour Leader Richard Leonard said:

“MSPs had the chance to end the ScotRail franchise just two months ago – but the Tories and the SNP joined forces to vote down Scottish Labour’s motion.

“ScotRail passengers know that the failed privatisation experiment must end now. Labour is the only party going into this election with a plan to bring our railways back into public ownership and build a transport system fit for the future.”

At 11am today Labour MP Paul Sweeney was joined by workers from the Caley railway works in Springburn, to protest the continued closure of the site.

Mr Leonard added: “It is a disgrace that the Caley, once a jewel in the crown of Britain’s railway infrastructure, was allowed to close earlier this year. The SNP’s managed decline of Scotland’s industry has thrown skilled workers onto the dole queue, and left Scotland sending trains for repair south of the border.

“We need a publicly-owned railway network with the capacity to build and maintain its infrastructure and rolling stock.”