UNION leaders have warned that state-controlled ScotRail’s plans to bring in 130 new train drivers will not end a staff shortage which has led to two weeks of rail chaos and cuts to one in three services across the nation from tomorrow.

Transport minister Jenny Gilruth has previously stated that there were plans to end the reliance on rest day working, including Sundays to keep Scotland’s trains on the tracks as services were plunged into chaos over the past two weeks.

One senior union official said that if ministers think the recruitment will eradicate rest day working “then they are living on planet Mars”.

Concerns have surfaced that as of Friday, there was not one single ScotRail train driver job being advertised on the website – despite Ms Gilruth’s claims to the contrary.

Scottish Labour have described that as “simply staggering”.

By the end of Saturday, nearly 1400 services had been cancelled in two weeks because of driver shortages brought about by a pay dispute that has led to some working to rule by not working rest days and Sundays. Hundreds more services have seen train carriages cut meaning they hold fewer passengers leading to complaints that they were too full.

Early on Sunday morning there were already nearly 340 services cancelled due to driver shortages.

READ MORE: From ferry fiasco to train 'chaos' as newly nationalised ScotRail slashes services by a third

On Saturday there were over 140 cancellations, including services on the world famous West Highland Line and between Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle. Passengers were told nationalised ScotRail were unable to secure replacement transport and were advised to "consider making their own alternative arrangements".

When the Scottish Government took control of ScotRail, last month, the First Minister said it was a “historic moment” and a “significant milestone”, but the service has lurched from one crisis to another since.

Last week ScotRail confirmed a decision to axe services was the result of a driver shortage exacerbated by two pay disputes involving the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) and Aslef unions after the rejection of a 2.2% pay rise.

ScotRail says the temporary but indefinite move to axe 700 services, has come as a result of the drivers pay dispute which has meant some refusing to take up the option of working rest days and Sundays.

The swingeing rail cuts in Scotland have been criticised as the worst seen in a generation.

Last week the transport minister described the practice of rest day working as “outdated” and that the Scottish Government was looking to phase it out.

She also said ScotRail would not have to rely on it when the delayed driver training has been completed and that this was expected to take a few months.

But ministers have confirmed that the vast majority of a new batch of drivers will not be trained up by the end of this year.

Of 130 drivers that are in the mix, 38 drivers were expected to be trained by the end of the summer, rising to 55 by the end of the year and to 100 by June 2023. It is estimated it takes a minimum of 18 months to train up a driver.

Scottish Conservatives feared that meant that cuts revealed in a new “temporary” timetable will remain in place in 2024 because of the delay in training.

READ MORE: Summer of Scots rail strikes loom as 800 ScotRail services are cancelled in a week in driver work-to-rule

Now union sources have said that the numbers being trained up will be nowhere near enough to end the rest day working issues that are dogging the state-controlled service and also hit the service when it was run by the Dutch state transport firm Abellio.

By the end of Friday, nearly 1200 services had been cancelled because of driver shortages brought about by a pay dispute that has led to some working to rule by not working rest days and Sundays.

The Herald:

The service is reliant on drivers doing overtime to work on normal rest days to keep trains running. Unions say the service is run on a six-day per week basis with Sunday not classed as a working day. The train drivers union Aslef argued the ScotRail system has always been "understaffed" and that working rest days and Sundays was optional.

But Mick Hogg, Scotland organiser of the RMT said even when the 130 are trained up it will not remove the need to avoid rest day working or end the six-day week.

He said: "The 130 is not going to eradicate rest day working or overtime. Since I have been the railway it has always been run on overtime. "The people of Scotland, the taxpayers are being sold a pup, because they are expecting a seven day service, but it is actually six days a week. Every day a Sunday is worked by a rail worker and it is overtime that is being paid."

It is claimed drivers, who get paid £52,000 a year when fully qualified, currently get £390 for working a rest day.

"There is no chance 130 is enough," he said. "It is a joke, if they think that. If they think 130 driver will eradicate rest day working, then they are living on planet Mars. That number is the tip of the iceberg.

"The Scottish Government, and ScotRail and Transport Scotland have not got around to addressing the elephant in the room which is Sunday not being part of the working week. If Sunday became part of the working week it will mean hundreds of extra drivers, hundreds of extra conductors and hundreds of extra ticket examiners and hundreds of extra gate staff.

"If Sunday is part of the working week, from a union perspective we would want as much free time in return into the rosters. We are not going to spend more time at work, we are going to spend less time.

"But they won't discuss Sundays because they just don't have the finances in order to negotiate it being part of the working week. They have avoided Sunday working for years."

He said that managers could impose new rosters, but would be "ill-advised" as any good-will expected would be gone.

"Management need to go very carefully in imposing things on the staff, because if staff want to spend quality time with families, then they should," he said. Concerns have surfaced from Scottish Labour about the lack of recruitment despite the claims of Ms Gilruth.

She said on Thursday: "I know that in conversations with ScotRail and drivers, we need to get to a better place, which is exactly why we've had to recruit additional and train additional drivers. And of course that was disrupted throughout Covid, unfortunately, otherwise we would not be...in this situation because we would have had those additional drivers."

Asked about the lack of adverts, she said: "That's not what I have been told... and I think it's hugely important that this driver recruitment process is allowed to complete to give us that extra provision in our driver capacity."

Scottish Labour Transport spokesperson Neil Bibby said: “Rail services have been plunged into chaos because of a lack of drivers, but ScotRail aren’t even trying to hire any – it is simply staggering.

“ScotRail and the SNP are shamelessly trying to pin the blame on workers in a pathetic attempt to mask years of poor leadership and failed workforce planning.

“Passengers are being promised the cuts are only temporary, but it’s difficult to fix a staffing shortage without recruiting.

“Rail workers and passengers both deserve better than for rail to become yet another SNP shambles.

“ScotRail and the SNP must show some leadership and fix the workforce crisis causing this instead of wheeling out spin and excuses.”

The First Minister has said the next review over whether the timetable cuts will stay in place is not expected till June 3 and would not put a date on when all services would be restored.

She also declined to say whether the Scottish Government would provide compensation to businesses impacted by the reduced timetable, such as pubs, clubs and restaurants which complained that the cuts would hit Scots ability to have a night out - with the final train home being brought forward by hours.

On Friday it emerged that the cuts from nationalised ScotRail meant the last trains to Perth, Dundee and Aberdeen will leave before Scotland's World Cup play-off with Ukraine starts.

Ministers have being urged to lay on more trains to ensure the cuts do not stop many of the Tartan Army attending.

The pay dispute surrounds train drivers, who having completed all training and a probation period are being paid some £52,000 per year - a rise of £3,640 (7.5%) in the past three years. Three years ago the pre-nationalised service was paying £48,360 to qualified drivers.

The ScotRail industrial action could start on July 11 at the earliest, with the Edinburgh festivals starting in the first week of August."

The Scottish Government decided last year to take ScotRail under direct state control stripping Dutch state transport firm Abellio of the franchise three years early in the wake of continuing outcry over service failings and rising costs to the taxpayer.

It came after a 2018 winter timetable with the introduction of high-speed trains and new class 385 electric trains ushered in months of cancellations and disruption to services with much of it put down to staff shortages partly due to training to deal with the new trains and timetable.

The Scottish Government took charge of the ScotRail in April, running then around 2,400 train services each day through an arms-length company ScotRail Trains Ltd.

The Herald:

David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “The training of new drivers was significantly affected because of the pandemic and it was right, in agreement with Aslef, that training was paused to ensure everyone’s safety.

“We want to resolve this dispute with the trade unions and move forward together to provide the safest, greenest, and most reliable railway we can for Scotland. We remain open to further talks with the trade unions.

“In the meantime, we are introducing a temporary timetable from Monday to provide our customers with a level of certainty and reliability."

The Scottish Government said at the end of last year there were 1,168 train drivers - 82 more than when Abellio took the franchise in December, 2015. During 2021, 74 drivers left ScotRail to retire or move to other operators for other reasons.

A spokesman said further driver recruitment over the next 18 months had been approved and will be publicised in the near future.

Ms Gilruth said in response: "I have been absolutely clear that the temporary cancellations, which have been made necessary by a pay dispute and the impact of Covid on driver training, are disruptive. They impact on staff, on passengers and on businesses; impacts which I have reiterated in today’s meeting with ScotRail.

“The need for a review of the revised timetable was the central focus of the meeting and there was a collective recognition of the importance that this happens quickly. However, it is also clear that the potential outcome of other ballots for industrial action, including in areas beyond our control, could impede any efforts to reintroduce services. That is why ScotRail will be taking a considered approach to increasing services but will make every effort to action them at the earliest sustainable opportunity.

“It is also important to note that, while both regrettable and necessary, the temporary timetable gives passengers more certainty for the short term, rather than being faced with unplanned cancellations such as those experienced the last few weekends. Plans are also being worked up for events such as the Scotland v Ukraine match.

“ScotRail have also given me their assurances they will continue the work already underway to not only train more drivers but recruit more too. Although more drivers currently work for ScotRail than in many previous years - the reliance on rest-day working must be reduced and, as far as possible, eliminated. That is the focus of ScotRail and of this Government.

“We fully understand that unions’ job is to represent their members and get a fair pay deal for them. But all parties must get back round the table and negotiate for that in good faith – this is what the travelling public wants.