Embattled Transport Minister Humza Yousaf will make a statement to parliament on the ScotRail crisis after demands he be hauled before MSPs to explain himself.
There has been mounting criticism of the state of the country’s railways, with commuters suffering punitive delays amid breakdowns and cancellations.
After a single broken down train crippled the network last week, rail unions demanded Mr Yousaf resign over the growing fiasco – but he has insisted he has no intention of stepping down.
Now the transport minister has agreed to update MSPs on the situation after Scottish Labour demanded he make an emergency statement at Holyrood.
Mr Yousaf said: “It is important to keep parliament informed of the actions I am taking to ensure Scotrail improve our rail services and I will be proposing to make a statement to parliament this week so all parties can discuss how we improve our rail services.”
A recently introduced improvement plan for the ScotRail service has been severely criticised, while Mr Yousaf has also said he is working on a “viable” public sector bid to run the railways.
Scottish Labour’s transport spokesman, Neil Bibby MSP, welcomed Mr Yousaf’s decision to appear before Holyrood.
He said: “Passengers are fast losing confidence in Humza Yousaf, so it is to be welcomed that he has immediately responded to my call for an emergency statement and agreed to
Labour’s demands to come before parliament this week. Exasperated commuters deserve to hear from him about how the SNP will fix this mess.
“Performance has deteriorated since ministers received an improvement plan in September, but to date Mr Yousaf appears to have been more interested in photo calls than providing answers to the travelling public.
“We need less spin and more substance.”
Recently released figures suggest just 86% of ScotRail services arrived at their destination on time or were less than five minutes late from October 16 to November 12 – although the most up-to-date annual figures put this at 89.8%.
Mr Yousaf said in a statement yesterday he was “focused” on “holding ScotRail to account” for improving services, as well “revolutionising rail travel in Scotland” in the “longer term”.
The transport minister urged people to remember “that ScotRail consistently outperforms many of the other train operating companies across the UK”.
He added: “As I have made clear, our focus is firmly on driving up standards for passengers and ScotRail bosses have been left in no doubt about the need for improvements, and the seriousness of my intent.
“I will continue to monitor their performance closely.”
