SNP government minister s were told that ScotRail drivers pay could lead to an exodus of staff to rival companies as they searched for better paid roles with rivals.
The train operator has already experienced a number of drivers leaving in 2018 for jobs with other UK operators in London North Eastern Railway (LNER) and TransPennine Express, who are growing in Scotland.
An investigation by the Scottish Express showed that the standard ScotRail driver’s salary advertised through recruitment website GlassDoor sat at £53,444 per annum.
In comparison drivers could fetch £58,405 with TransPennine Express; £67,580 with Avanti West Coast and £70,875 with LNER.
The alarm was raised with Holyrood’s transport committee in March 2019 as MSP’s were told: "Significantly larger numbers of drivers and conductors than forecast left ScotRail during 2018."
ScotRail boss Alex Hynes outlined plans to recruit 55 new drivers and added: "The number of drivers who left ScotRail increased last year because of service expansion by other train operating companies in Scotland. It is not just ScotRail that is expanding its service: London North Eastern Railway and TransPennine Express, for example, are also doing so.
"Other train operating companies have different terms and conditions, and sometimes our drivers fancy a change—they might want to drive a different type of train over a different route, for example. The number of drivers who left the business therefore increased above the historical levels."
Then transport secretary Michael Matheson was also at the meeting and said: "ScotRail will need to continue to recruit drivers, because it still depends on rest-day working."
Seven months later, in December 2019, Mr Matheson took the decision to end Abellio's contract three years early and bring ScotRail into private hands from 2022.
The nationalisation has turned into a complete disaster, however, with the long-running dispute over drivers working on rest days coming to a head within weeks of the SNP taking over the railways.
As a result, one in three services were cancelled from Monday amid utter fury and disbelief from the Scottish public who have realised the railway is now effectively a part-time service.
A senior industry source told the Scottish Express that ScotRail has been operating with a shortage of drivers for "as long as anybody can remember".
One source said: "This goes back 25 years. All train operators in England, Scotland, Wales, none of them have ever employed enough train drivers. It just doesn't suit them and it never has.
"All of the train companies including Abellio and the previous ScotRail operators, they have all had fairly short-term contracts of four to five years so there was no incentive to invest in the industry by recruiting and training new drivers.
"ScotRail under Abellio have arguably been fools to themselves. There has been a shortage of drivers for as long as anybody can remember but that is how successive managements have chosen to manage the service.
"You might think it is managerial incompetence or ineptitude or you might think that it was a deliberate choice, but politicians of all parties have not been unaware of the issue or of the problem and that includes the SNP."
Meanwhile, a source close to train drivers' union Aslef confirmed that many ScotRail members had found better salaries elsewhere in recent years.
They said: "If you have a number of different operators offering different salaries then you might very well find that West Coast are offering staff of all grades and in this case drivers more than ScotRail are paying."
The source added: "If a train company is losing staff then that's a matter for the company to try to enhance terms, pay or pensions."
