Transport Scotland is managing rail franchise contract effectively

An Audit Scotland report, The First ScotRail passenger rail franchise, looks at how the Scottish Government’s national transport agency, Transport Scotland, is managing the rail franchise. The report also examines First ScotRail’s performance and the awarding of its three-year extension.

Auditor General for Scotland, Robert Black, said: “Scotland’s trains are a vital service for people in Scotland and there are large amounts of public money invested in passenger rail services.

“Transport Scotland has managed the franchise contract effectively and First ScotRail has run services well since taking over in 2004. Delays are down, passenger numbers and satisfaction are up, and the quality of service, both on trains and at stations, has improved."

The report finds that Transport Scotland has in place effective arrangements for monitoring and managing First ScotRail’s delivery of passenger rail services in Scotland. However, there is scope to take more account of both passengers’ concerns and wider government priorities in the targets and measures that Transport Scotland use, and information about First ScotRail’s performance could be more readily available to passengers.

The report says that First ScotRail, which will receive £2.5 billion in government subsidy over the ten-year franchise term, is doing a good job in running services; service quality is good and improving in most areas.

Since First ScotRail took over four years ago, more services are running on time. The number of minutes lost to delays has reduced significantly. While there is room for further improvement in some performance areas, the quality of service at stations and on trains has improved in most areas and, overall, passenger satisfaction has risen.

Looking at Transport Scotland’s decision earlier this year to award First ScotRail a three-year extension to the contract, the report says that some aspects of the process could have been better managed.

Robert Black said: “Transport Scotland secured a guaranteed investment of £73.1 million from First ScotRail as part of the franchise extension, and they have put in place more demanding targets for aspects of service performance. However, there are some lessons to learn for managing the contracting process in relation to future franchises.“