Jackie Baillie has welcomed news that rail services cancelled due to a dispute with train drivers will be restarted but urged ScotRail to ensure they have a long-term plan for restoring timetables to pre-pandemic levels.

Earlier this week, the train drivers’ union ASLEF agreed to accept a deal from the rail provider following a dispute which led to a temporary timetable being introduced in mid-May causing widespread disruption.

Services across West Dunbartonshire and Helensburgh have been severely impacted since the emergency schedule was brought in as talks took place between train drivers and the rail operator. However prior to this, many services were also cancelled at short notice across the local network.

Additional services were put on last month across Scotland, but this area was excluded with many struggling to get to and from work. Constituents contacted the Dumbarton constituency MSP saying they were considering relocating due to the unreliable train service.

Now Jackie Baillie wants to see efforts made to ensure people in Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven, Balloch and Helensburgh are able to rely on the train timetable again and that steps are taken immediately to address staffing issues to ensure the problem doesn’t arise again.

Jackie Baillie said: “The SNP could have avoided turmoil over the past two months by offering a fair deal much earlier – but instead they dragged out this dispute and let passengers pay the price. It has impacted my constituency so severely that people are looking to move away as they feel that they can’t rely on public transport again. I was inundated with correspondence from people struggling to get to work or to make medical appointments due to the disruption and with no replacement bus services provided.

“Rail passengers across West Dunbartonshire and Helensburgh, who have been more adversely affected than others, will breathe a sigh of relief that this latest episode of ScotRail cuts and chaos looks set to end. However going back to the situation we had in early May is not a perfect solution.

“At this point, my constituents were subjected to the cancellation of services at short notice. Indeed, since the start of 2020, 1000 services a day have been cut. Resuming 700 services is welcome but there is still a long way to go to get back to pre-pandemic levels. If the SNP government wants to encourage people to use this sustainable form of transport, they need a proper action plan to make sure services are getting to the people who need it and that they are affordable.

“I have already written to ScotRail to urge them to launch a recruitment campaign locally and I look forward to hearing more about their plans for this to prevent such major disruption from occurring again.”