THE transfer of a dozen ScotRail Class 150 and Class 170 diesel units to northern England has sparked protests, with one union criticising a ’make do and mend’ culture north of the border.
There are also problems with the programme to introduce HSTs on main internal intercity routes in Scotland, which are said to have been caused by a shortage of engineering parts.
The TSSA said ScotRail has been ‘forced to procure an extra eleven trains to plug the holes after train leasing company, Porterbrook, transferred ScotRail¹s trains to England as their lease expired’.
The units are understood to be going to Northern.
TSSA general secretary Manual Cortes said: “The lease system of trains is one of the most snide and despicable things about the great rail privatisation swindle.
“They are not owned by Network Rail or even the train operating companies but by private venture operating companies who just lease old trains – the very same ones that used to be in public ownership, owned by us – to the highest bidder, for rip off rates.
“There is no real incentive to invest in new trains, with modern facilities and decent toilets as there is less profit to be made from them. It's far easier and more lucrative for privateers to simply change the train's livery and run the them until they literally fall apart. That's why there is a scarcity of spare parts – the trains are so old that they've been used up.”
The ScotRail Alliance said it was ‘in the process of securing more trains to increase capacity’.