LABOUR and the SNP have clashed over the reliability of trains to local stations.

West Scotland Labour MSP Neil Bibby has hit out at the arrivals at Ardrossan Harbour and said that the latest figures show that just over a third of trains arrive on time.

But local SNP MSP Kenny Gibson said that the station is performing better than the Scottish average when you look at arrivals within five minutes of the scheduled time.

This comes on the day (Wednesday) that MSPs are to vote on ending the franchise with Dutch firm Abellio in the Scottish Parliament.

Labour MSPs are calling for the use of a ‘break clause’ to end the Abellio contract early and bring ScotRail into public hands.

Little more than a third of rail services terminating at Ardrossan Harbour (36.9%) arrived on time while 27.7% of services arrived on time at Largs, according to the List MSP.

Mr Bibby said: "With declining and deteriorating performance, ScotRail is failing Ayrshire and failing the people who depend on rail services all across the country. Passengers are totally fed up with delayed, cancelled, overcrowded and overpriced trains.

"The Abellio deal isn’t working for local passengers. It’s time to use the ‘break clause’ in the contract to end the deal early and bring ScotRail into public ownership at the earliest opportunity."

Kenny Gibson hit back and said: “I believe Mr Bibby is referring to the Scotrail Monthly Performance Update published on October 13.

“However, he is being rather selective in his interpretation of the figures. While it is correct to say that 27.7 per cent of trains that terminate at Largs arrive precisely on time, 85.9 per cent do arrive within five minutes of their scheduled arrival time. Indeed, 90.3 per cent of trains arrive at Ardrossan Harbour within 5 minutes of their scheduled arrival time also. This means that both stations are actually performing better than the Scottish average of 81.8 per cent.

“It is also worth pointing out that Storm Ali took place during this period, causing rail disruption due to flooding and high winds which caused damage to rail infrastructure which is managed by Network Rail.

“In response to specific failures in and around Glasgow, Network Rail Scotland is spending an extra £5m on the reliability of the track and signalling to improve services for customers.

“Perhaps Mr Bibby should consider joining the SNP in supporting the devolution of Network Rail - which is under UK control - so that it becomes fully accountable to the people of Scotland.”