SAVE SCOTRAIL SERVICES

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2022 :: RMTnews 20 RMT is calling for Abellio ScotRail's proposals to cut 12 per cent of services, or around 100,000 a year, to be withdrawn and for the Scottish government to commit to protecting ScotRail services. The Failed ScotRail operator’s "Fit for the Future" document includes plans to drop from its pre-Covid number of 2,400 services a day to 2,100 in line with new travel patterns and overcapacity on some routes. Please sign and share the RMT petition available at https://www.megaphone.org.u k/petitions/stop-the-cuts-to- scotrail-services Abellio is consulting on the proposed timetable from May 2022, despite the fact that it will not even be operating the franchise by then, as ScotRail will pass into public ownership from April 1 2022. Abellio currently runs the franchise but the Scottish government will take over from the Dutch firm, using a "break clause" in the franchise contract to end it three years early after the company revealed losses of over £64 million. RMT believes that it is unfathomable that the Scottish government, which is already managing the franchise under its Emergency Measures Agreement, is overseeing drastic and damaging cuts to the sustainable, low carbon, rail network. This will do nothing to make Scotland a ‘Net zero nation’ and will just push more people into cars, despite the Scottish government's goal of reducing car miles by 20 per cent by 2030. It is clear these rail cuts will be bad for passengers and bad for Scotland's climate change goals. In a joint statement from all rail unions including RMT said: "It is incredible that in the year that the world comes to Scotland to debate the very future of our planet that ScotRail is proposing cuts to rail services in a transparent attempt to use the pandemic as cover for cuts. "These plans would not only cull jobs, they would hit the most vulnerable hardest including elderly and disabled people. All the while diverting many passengers back onto the roads and increasing pollution, congestion and greenhouse gases. "It is exactly this type of short-term thinking that has contributed to the climate crisis,” the statement said. SAVE SCOTRAIL SERVICES Failed operator Abellio proposes service cuts from May after ScotRail has passed into public ownership PEOPLE'S SCOTRAIL: Unions and supporters launch a report calling for a People's Scotrail outside the Scottish parliament and to demand a commitment block proposed cuts to ScotRail services. The Scottish government manages the ScotRail franchise under its ongoing Emergency Measures Agreement and has the power to block the service cuts being proposed.