Cuts to Railway Funding

That the Parliament notes with concern reports that the Scottish Government funding settlement for the next five-year Railway Control Period 7 (CP7), from 2024 to 2029, will result in a £315 million (13%) cut in Network Rail Scotland’s budget for what it sees as vital safety critical railway infrastructure work, compared with the previous five year period; understands that these cuts will fall on the renewal of track, signalling and other assets at a time, it believes, of increased degradation of railway assets and structures, and extreme weather events linked to climate change; considers that this will lead to an increased risk of structural and earthwork failures, similar to those that caused the Carmont rail disaster in 2020; is concerned that a reduction in Network Rail Scotland’s spend on railway renewals and an increased reliance on railway maintenance could lead to an increase in safety risks and a reduction in performance, including through speed restrictions and "go slows", and the loss of rail workers’ jobs and skills, which, it believes, are needed for now and in the future; believes that these cuts to infrastructure funding are part of Network Rail’s drive, under the Scottish Government’s instruction, to make efficiencies; considers that these rail cuts are a false economy that will increase economic inefficiencies within the railway and wider economy, and calls on the Scottish Government to reverse the reported £315 million cut in renewals, and, instead, to protect rail safety, services and jobs and deliver efficiencies by reducing fragmentation and moving to a unified, integrated, publicly-owned railway.