RAIL union leaders have welcomed support for their campaign to defend the integrity of Network Rail and bring ScotRail into permanent public ownership.

Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) general secretary Manuel Cortes thanked delegates at the 124th STUC Congress for backing the union’s motion on the future of Scotland’s rail services. 

The union argued that breaking up Network Rail would leave its parts ripe for privatisation and impose extra costs on Scottish taxpayers as purchasing power gained through economies of scale would be lost.