THE views on how Scotland’s railways should be run may be wide and varied, but at least everyone agrees on the final destination: a national service that is focused on reliability and punctuality, fares that are as low as possible, and a decent deal for taxpayers. The question, as ever, is how to get there.

In recent years, three issues have started to dominate the discussion and they still do. First, are the current franchising rules fit for purpose? Specifically, is it right that public sector companies from other countries can bid for a Scottish franchise but public sector operators in the UK cannot?

Secondly, there is a debate about whether there should be further devolution of the railways so that the Scottish section of Network Rail – which owns, operates and maintains the British railway infrastructure – is devolved and answerable to the Scottish Government. And finally, there is the bigger debate about whether the Scottish Government should end the current system and renationalise the railways completely.

On the issue of the franchising rules, reform is needed. Quite rightly, the Scottish Government has come under pressure over the performance of Abellio since it took over ScotRail in 2015. The company came in with all kind of promises about what it would do to improve the service, but their performance has been patchy at best, although admittedly there have been some improvements on punctuality.

It has also not gone unobserved that Abellio is a state-owned company, albeit one owned by the Dutch rather than the British state, which has led many to ask why millions of pounds is going to a foreign state-owned firm when the money could be going to a UK company instead. Obviously, there are big questions about which, if any, British public sector company might actually bid for ScotRail, but it is only logical and fair that they should be allowed to do so and that the current rules should be changed.

Of course, some people would go a lot further and renationalise Scotland’s railways altogether but that is a more dubious option. Anyone who remembers the railways when they were last completely nationalised will know that the service rarely, if ever, received the investment it needed. The inefficiency of the already nationalised infrastructure part of the railway service should also give us pause – some 54 per cent of the delays on ScotRail trains are caused by the publicly-owned Network Rail. Further nationalisation is unlikely to be a panacea.

However, the calls for further devolution of the rail service, made again this week by the think-tank Reform Scotland, are much more logical. Reform Scotland’s view is that the responsibility for Scottish routes should transfer to a new body which would be directly responsible to, and answerable to, the Scottish Government. Such a change would, according to the think-tank, mean a far clearer and more transparent line of accountability.

Reform Scotland makes a good case. Renationalising the railways is unlikely to make trains suddenly run on time, but further devolution of Network Rail is common sense. The Scottish Government is responsible for the strategic direction and funding of the Scottish rail network, but can this responsibility really be properly exercised while Network Rail remains answerable to the UK Government?

For some, further devolution will be part of their greater constitutional or political aims, but what it is really about is improving the functioning of our railways and ensuring the maximum efficiency of the service as well as full democratic scrutiny. Naturally, there would have to be an agreed cross-border structure and that could be complicated. But the aim would remain the same: delivering a rail service – public or private or a mix of the two – that is efficient, clean, punctual and value for money.