Ironic that its Keith Brown, the transport secy that chose Abellio
So you think he just sat down and went eeny meeny miney mo?
The various tenders for the Scotrail franchise were assessed with a fine toothed comb, as required by the UK Government's approved tendering process, and the one that came out on top of the scorecard was Abellio.
Brown was then pretty much told that Abellio were the successful bidder. What would you recommend he should have done?
I have no vested interest in this but, from my perspective, Scotrail has improved under Abellio.
The 385 introduction has been a mess - that's Hitachi's fault (and the seats are dire) - I frequently travel Edinburgh to Glasgow. Well done for getting the 365s which I like.
The HSTs are something I (and I think the majority of travellers) will welcome - I frequently travel Edinburgh to Aberdeen, but their introduction has been a mess - that's Wabtec's fault.
I used to live in Cumbernauld and would have welcomed a Cumbernauld to Edinburgh direct so I'm delighted such a service starts in December.
I still visit Cumbernauld once or twice a year and will use the new service rather than getting off at Camelon and bussing to Cumbernauld.
For someone's negative there will often be another persons positive.
I genuinely can't imagine anyone sitting down and going "new timetable forthcoming, guys, who can we disadvantage?".
Presumably you do imagine that.