SCOTTISH Labour will formally back rail renationalisation at the party's conference as SNP ministers and ScotRail's owner come under fire for the "truly abysmal performance" of the service.
In a motion to be debated at the conference in Perth this week the train drivers’ union Aslef demands “rail services must be placed under a system of public control and public accountability".
Scottish Labour's leadership said it will back Aslef's call to strip Dutch firm Abellio of the ScotRail contract it took over in 2015 in a 10-year deal worth up to £6bn.
The motion adds that "Abellio which has caused chaos for millions of passengers by failing to meet the required standards and service levels notwithstanding the appointment of a new managing director on January 23rd 2017".
Scottish Government ministers have claimed that Holyrood does not hold enough powers to renationalise rail.
However, the claim will be challenged during a debate on Protecting Scotland’s rail services on Saturday, the second day of the Labour conference.
Scottish Labour transport spokesperson Neil Bibby said: “Passengers in Scotland are paying over the odds for overcrowded, late running trains. There’s a better way to run the railways in Scotland and that is with a People’s ScotRail."
An Abellio spokesperson, in response, said: “We are investing £475 million in Scotland’s railways, the biggest investment since the Victorian era delivering more seats and faster journey times for passengers."
A spokesperson for transport minister Humza Yousaf pointed out that Labour had failed to act over rail renationalisation when it was in power at Westminster and Holyrood.
The spokesperson said: “For a party that claims to be in favour of a publicly-owned ScotRail it does beg the question why Labour sat on their hands and chose not to stop franchising when they had a golden opportunity to do so."
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