NS bails out ScotRail unit after loss, say Scottish papers

Photo: ScotRail.co.uk

Dutch state-owned railway company NS has bailed out its Scottish subsidiary with a multi-million euro loan, Scottish newspapers say.

NS’s international arm Abellio has confirmed that it has effectively been subsidising improvements in services in Scotland after ScotRail posted its first lost in years

New annual accounts show a division of the Netherlands state-owned railway this year extended £10m in credit to its Scottish subsidiary, the Glasgow Herald said.

This came after Abellio ScotRail Limited suffered a £3.5m after-tax loss for 2016, its first full year in charge of most of Scotland’s train services

Abellio ScotRail did not explain why it made a loss but sources told the Herald poor performance, partly blamed on disruption from major infrastructure work at one of Glasgow’s main stations, may have cut income.

A month ago, Scottish rail unions launched a campaign claiming that the Dutch taxpayer was benefiting from dividends paid by ScotRail. Abellio has been running the ScotRail service since 2015.

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