Dutch state owned railway company Abellio will lose its contract to run services in Scotland three years ahead of schedule because of continued poor performance.

The contract, which runs until 2025, will now end in March 2022, Scotland’s transport secretary Michael Matheson has confirmed. Scotland is keen to abolish the franchise system and take rail services back into public hands.

On Tuesday, Scottish media revealed that ScotRail had delivered its poorest monthly performance report in a year, with significant delays and cancellations.

Abellio, the international arm of NS, won the contract to run Scottish services in October 2014 and pledged to invest millions in improving services.

In December 2018, Abellio was given an official warning by the Scottish government to improve services and a second one two months later, as passenger satisfaction fell to a 16-year low.

In April, Abellio won the contract to supply rail services in the East Midlands region, including trains from London St Pancras station to Leeds, Liverpool and Norwich.The company also runs the East Anglia network.