Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): How many of the new class 385 sets and refurbished high-speed trains that were due to be delivered in December 2018 have not yet been delivered to ScotRail?
The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity (Michael Matheson): As it stands, ScotRail has accepted 61 of the 70 class 385 sets ordered. The number is sufficient to allow ScotRail to deliver significant capacity improvements across the electrified routes in the central belt and will also allow it to redeploy the diesel trains to increase train lengths in other parts of the network. For HSTs, only four of 26 refurbished units have been accepted from Angel Trains and Wabtec Rail Scotland, alongside 14 unrefurbished classic trains, which are now operating on the seven cities routes.
I will continue to press Angel Trains and Wabtec on the issue. I met them last week to press the need for continued progress on the matter. As I have highlighted to the Parliament many times in recent weeks, there is no doubt in my mind that the delay from Hitachi in delivering the class 385s and making sure that the refurbished HSTs are delivered on time had a significant impact on ScotRail’s ability to deliver on the timetable change in December 2018. We will continue to press Wabtec, Hitachi and Angel Trains to address those matters as quickly as possible.
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About Stewart Stevenson
Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - Bell Baxter - and studied Mathematics at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with a modest degree in 1969. That's also the year Sandra & I married. Her family comes from the North East.Thirty years later I retired from Bank of Scotland as Director of Technology Innovation and was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2001 as member for Banff & Buchan having first joined the SNP in 1961.
I then represented the new constituency of Banffshire & Buchan Coast Constituency in our Parliament. I retired as an MSP on 5th May 2021
I was also previously (2007-2010), Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change and (2011-2012), Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
I hold the honorary posts of President of the Scottish Association for Public Transport
and Vice-President of Railfuture UK.I am a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, a Member at The Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Professional Member of the Association for Computing Machinery, a Member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists and an Associate Member of the Highland Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Association.
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