The boss of ScotRail has defended the train operator in the face of passenger anger over delays, cancellations and pricing.
Phil Verster admitted the company took its eye off the ball during industrial action, but said it is on track to improve the service.
Speaking at an SNP fringe event, he hit out at those who said ScotRail’s performance had “fallen off a cliff”, saying they were close to hitting punctuality targets.
Mr Verster, who is the operator’s managing director, said that it had been hit hard by the strikes over driver-operated doors, which he said “distracts people’s attention”.
He said: “Employees are concerned about where the dispute is going. It has affected our management time because it is dedicated on trying to fix the dispute issue.
“We are now focusing back on our programme of action to improve where we are.”
ScotRail is only just shy of reaching its punctuality target of 90.3% of trains getting to their destination within five minutes of the scheduled arrival time, Mr Verster added.
He said being 0.7% off the target “does not reflect a performance that has fallen off a cliff”, which he said is how political parties pursuing nationalisation are categorising it.
Mr Verster added ScotRail’s “biggest challenge” is to increase capacity to tackle delays and over-crowding, but described it as like performing “open heart surgery while running a marathon”.
He hailed the arrival of “super sexy trains” to improve services between Aberdeen and the central belt.
