Scotrail taking passengers 'back to the 1970s' as network relies on decades-old trains

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Passengers using Scotrail are being taken "back to the 1970s" as the network still relies on decades-old trains.The Lib Dems called for investment in new rolling stock to be stepped up after the party's research found the oldest carriages still in use dated to 1976.The trains with the longest continuous use are Class 318s found on the Glasgow suburban network which were built in 1986 and entered service the same year.Scotrail was taken back into public ownership in April last year but the franchise still relies on hiring its trains from third party companies.Jill Reilly, transport spokeswoman for the Lib Dems, said: "ScotRail are relying on rolling stock that almost dates back to the age of steam."Old carriages and trains have a place on the service, but it does raise questions about how well capital investment in Scotland’s trains has been handled over the years and whether reliance on old trains has been allowed to impede on operational efficiency."Delays are not just costing passengers, but the Government as well and that money should be available for updating trains and carriages."Commuters and rail users need a quality service that they can rely on if we are to tempt people out of private cars, not one that feels like travelling back to the seventies."A spokesman for Transport Scotland said: "ScotRail’s current fleet is that inherited from the private operator Abellio in April 2022."All of the ScotRail fleet is currently owned by third party rolling stock leasing companies."Public ownership of ScotRail provides Transport Scotland with the opportunity for the previous approach to rolling stock procurement to be reviewed."The Scottish Government is committed to a rolling programme of decarbonisation and with that we