Chamber and committees

Salt stocks are fundamental to a successful winter on our roads and we currently have more salt in stock than was used for the whole of last winter. National salt figures are published on Transport Scotland’s website: https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/salt-group-situation-report/

The payment mechanism for the provision of winter service through our Operating Company contracts is a fixed ‘monthly sum’. This includes the procurement of salt, winter fleet and equipment for use on our trunk roads.

For this winter season, we have further invested in specialist plant. This includes an all-terrain 4x4 (Unimog) for use as a winter patrol vehicle on the M80, a Relief Vehicle for use during severe flooding events and a state of the art combi spreader for development of our liquid treatment trials.

The Scottish Salt Group monitored the restocking process throughout the summer and met with suppliers to confirm there is adequate salt production to meet the demand and that restocking targets for Scotland are being met.

Following the salt shortage of 2010-11, strategic salt was purchased (in addition to operational salt) and costs incurred to date are £11.9 million; inclusive of the purchase, haulage and storage. We have a strategic salt supply managed by the Scottish Salt Group of approx. 83,750 tonnes and requests from local roads authorities to use our strategic salt will be considered during emergencies.

The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on delayed or cancelled bus services.

The number of ferries (a) delayed and (b) cancelled in the last two quarters as defined within the Public Service Contracts with the Scottish Ministers (1 April 2017 to 30 September 2017 inclusive) is as follows:

• CalMac - (a) 1354 delayed and (b) 1222 cancelled out of a total of 80,301 scheduled sailings, 1.69% and 1.52% respectively.

• Serco NorthLink Ferries - (a) 110 delayed and (b) 6 cancelled out of a total of 1,300 scheduled sailings, 8.46% and 0.46% respectively.

• Argyll Ferries Ltd - (a) 5 delayed and (b) 332 cancelled out of a total of 9,677 scheduled sailings, 0.05% and 3.43% respectively.

Transport Scotland is working with the ScotRail Alliance to prepare for potential severe winter weather and expect to see further improvements in operational and customer services and travel advice offered. The preparedness will include snow clearing equipment and machines.

ScotRail will implement a robust communications plan ensuring passengers are prepared for adverse weather, including customer road shows at key stations throughout December, and the creation of a dedicated website and social media campaign for key messages.

ScotRail is obliged to provide the resources to operate the services as set out in the Franchise Agreement, which includes those required for winter preparation measures.

There are 803 carriages in the Abellio ScotRail (ASR) fleet and they will operate over winter 2017-2018. In the coming months ScotRail will gradually introduce new electric Class 385 trains.

Transport Scotland monitors the franchisee’s quality of facilities at stations and on train through a Service Quality Incentive Regime (SQUIRE). This includes on-train heating to ensure that the temperature in use should not fall below 10 degrees Celsius.

Since the franchise commenced the audits have recorded isolated occurrences where trains have failed to meet the standards as a result of temperature issues.

The number of ferries that were (a) delayed and (b) cancelled in winter 2016-17 (24 October 2016 to 30 March 2017 inclusive) as defined within the Public Service Contracts with the Scottish Ministers due to weather conditions is as follows:

• CalMac - (a) 522 delayed and (b) 1768 cancelled out of a total of 48,011 scheduled sailings, 1.6% and 3.68% respectively.

• Serco NorthLink Ferries - (a) 101 delayed and (b) 28 cancelled out of a total of 884 scheduled sailings, 11.43% and 3.17% respectively.

• Argyll Ferries Ltd - (a) 27 delayed and (b) 305 cancelled out of a total of 8,256 scheduled sailings, 0.33% and 3.58% respectively.

During periods of bad weather the ferry operators providing lifeline ferry services to the Scottish Government under a Public Service Contract will, where possible, advise the travelling public in advance of any potential disruption. This information is provided via the ferry operator’s website, texting, social media, as well as the national and local media.

In addition, where periods of bad weather are anticipated, the ferry operator will seek to try and flex the scheduled ferry service timetable to provide sailings in advance of, or following on from, the disruption to the timetabled services, to try and minimise any impact on our remote and island communities.

As the trunk road authority in Scotland, legislation requires Transport Scotland to take such steps as it considers reasonable to prevent snow and ice endangering the safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles over public roads. Transport Scotland discharges this duty by having contracts in place with Operating Companies who ensure the trunk road network is safe, efficient and well managed.

With a fully mobilised winter fleet, our winter service capability has never been higher; and our pre-winter preparations, audits, scenario workshops and weekly winter calls will ensure that there is no room for complacency in our winter service despite the recent mild winters.

We are continually investing in our winter service and for 2017-18 we have 208 vehicles, available for spreading salt and ploughing snow. The number of vehicles servicing trunk roads has been maintained from 2016-17 for this season. All frontline and reserve fleet have ploughing capability.

Dependent on the forecast weather conditions, up to 122 gritters with ploughing capability are deployed to provide precautionary salt treatments to trunk roads. A further 51 gritters are routinely deployed as required to patrol and provide additional salt treatments. The remaining 35 gritters are available to provide support to the frontline and patrol vehicles, as well as to cover breakdowns and essential maintenance.

High winds are a regular feature of our Scottish weather and can affect all modes of transport. Safety for all transport users is our primary concern.

There were 9 closures in April/May/June 2017 and 2 closures in July/August/September 2017.

Responsibility for the response time to major disruptions on the Glasgow-Falkirk-Edinburgh railway service is an operational matter and rests with ScotRail and Network Rail.

However, officials from Transport Scotland meet regularly with their counterparts from ScotRail and Network Rail to review and challenge how they respond to major disruptions.

The Scottish Government does not hold the detailed cost breakdown on the amount spent clearing rail tracks of debris in the calendar year, 2016, nor the estimate of expenditure for 2017. However, we would expect, as funder and specifier, that Network Rail will deploy sufficient resources to meet its performance and reliability requirements in Scotland.