Rail unions yesterday gave a guarded welcome to a pledge by Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy that his party will deliver a “people’s ScotRail” in the public sector.

RMT said its position remained that of full nationalisation of the railway, while train drivers’ union Aslef said Mr Murphy’s call was a “step in the right direction but still falls short.”

In October the Scottish government awarded the next 10-year ScotRail contract from April 2015 to Abbellio — owned by the Dutch national railway — and its private partner Serco.