Railway overview

Scotland has an extensive railway network, with links across the country, connections to England, local commuter links to the major cities (many of which were electrified under British Rail) and freight. As of 2018, the total route length of the rail network in Scotland is 2,819 km (1,752 mi). 709 km (441 mi) of the rail network is electrified, and there are 359 stations.^[4]

The railway network is owned by Network Rail, which is responsible for the majority of the railway infrastructure. Rail services are provided under franchises awarded by the government. The current holder of the Scottish franchise is ScotRail. Intercity services are also operated by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Caledonian Sleeper, London North Eastern Railway and TransPennine Express.^[5]

The East and West Coast Main Lines are the two cross-border railways that connect the networks of Scotland and England. London North Eastern Railway (LNER) provides inter-city rail journeys on the former between Inverness, Aberdeen and Edinburgh to London King's Cross via York, while Avanti West Coast runs services on the latter from either Edinburgh or Glasgow Central to London Euston with some services serving Birmingham New Street. TransPennine Express, Lumo, CrossCountry, Caledonian Sleeper and ScotRail also operate services to England. Domestic rail services within Scotland are operated by ScotRail. Glasgow's Subway is one of the four underground urban rail networks in the UK (the others being in London, Newcastle and Liverpool). Edinburgh has a tramway to and from the airport.

On 1 January 2006, Transport Scotland was established, which would oversee the regulation of railways in Scotland and administer major rail projects.^[6] Since April 2022, Transport Scotland has taken ScotRail back into public ownership via its operator of last resort, Scottish Rail Holdings.^[7] It will do the same with the Caledonian Sleeper service in June 2023.^[8]

Cross border services

The Caledonian Sleeper, an overnight sleeper train, is operated by Scottish Rail Holdings and travels between Scotland and London

The main cross border services in Scotland are:

• The West Coast Main Line – operated by Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express
  • Services from Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central) and Motherwell to Manchester Airport, Birmingham New Street and London Euston
• East Coast Main Line – operated by London North Eastern Railway
  • Services from Inverness, Aberdeen, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley to London King's Cross^[9]
• Cross Country Route – operated by CrossCountry
  • Services from Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley to Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Exeter St Davids, Plymouth and Penzance
• Caledonian Sleeper – overnight sleeper services
  • Services from Inverness, Aberdeen, Fort William, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley to London Euston
• Glasgow South Western Line – operated by ScotRail
  • Services linking Carlisle, Dumfries, Kilmarnock, Glasgow Central, Paisley, Troon (for P&O Ferries to Larne), Ayr and Stranraer (with links by bus from the two latter stations to Cairnryan, for P&O Ferries to Larne or Stena Line to Belfast).

Scottish services

Map of railways in Scotland

Within Scotland, 94% of passenger service trains are operated by ScotRail, with the remaining 6% being cross border.^[10] Until 2005, services within the former Strathclyde Regional Council area were provided by First ScotRail on behalf of SPT.^[11]

History of Scottish railways

The first railway in Scotland was the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, opened in 1826. The first passenger railway was the Kilmarnock & Troon Railway.^[12] The first railways in Scotland were operated using horse traction. By 1850, Scotland's major cities were linked to each other and to the rest of the British railway network. The second half of the nineteenth century saw a rapid expansion of the network, and by 1900; virtually every town with a population greater than 2,000 on the Scottish mainland had a railway station. At the same time, trains became more comfortable, faster and more frequent whilst the cost of travel declined relative to wages.

Nevertheless, there were probably never more than 100 million or so journeys made per year within Scotland, little more than 20 per head of population, illustrating how most people had little need, financial means or desire to travel long distances. Railways did, though, play an important part in moving freight, especially heavy loads such as coal, iron and steel, and played a vital role in the First World War.

After World War I, the Railways Act 1921 also known as the Grouping Act, merged the Caledonian Railway and its rival, the North British Railway into the newly created London, Midland and Scottish Railway and London and North Eastern Railway companies.

After World War II, the railways were nationalised by the Transport Act 1947 into British Railways. The Scottish network was reorganised as the Scottish Region (ScR), one of six new regions of British Railways.

By the late-1950s, the railways were operating at a loss. In 1963, the Government appointed Richard Beeching as Chairman of the British Transport Commission. He commissioned a report called The Reshaping of British Railways also known as the Beeching Repor that intended to reorganise the railways to become more profitable. This led to the infamous Beeching cuts, resulting in 650 miles of track and associated stations being closed.^[13] The closures were deeply unpopular by many people affected and resulted in protests, most notably the Waverley Route.^[14]

The closure programme slowed down after the Transport Act 1968 made it possible for the Government to directly subsidise loss-making lines and the last major closures in the 1970s, were the direct Edinburgh–Perth Glenfarg line and the Formartine and Buchan Railway which connected Peterhead and Fraserburgh to Aberdeen.

In the 1980s, British Railways (by that point renamed "British Rail") rebranded the Scottish Region as ScotRail.

British Rail was privatised in March 1997 by the outgoing Conservative Government. The Scotland franchise was won by National Express who decided to retain the ScotRail brand and operated the franchise until 2004. The Scotland franchise was then operated by First ScotRail until 2015 when Abellio ScotRail was awarded the franchise by the devolved Scottish Government. The Caledonian Sleeper service, which had previously been operated by the Scotland franchise holder from 1997, was separated as a new franchise in 2015. It is currently operated by Scottish Rail Holdings after being taken into public ownership by the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland in 2023.^[15]

Since 1997, rail usage has risen, which has resulted in the reopening of former railway lines and stations closed under the Beeching Axe. Major reopenings include:

• Airdrie–Bathgate rail link – reopened a fourth link between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
• Stirling–Alloa–Kincardine rail link - reconnected Clackmannanshire to the rail network.
• Borders Railway – partial reopening of the Waverley Route

In 2008, the Scottish Government announced that £200 million would be spent to reduce journey times between Aberdeen and both Edinburgh and Glasgow. The funds would shorten the journey time between Aberdeen and Edinburgh by 24 minutes. However, in 2021, it was stated that only £1.68 million had been spent.^[16][17]

Glasgow Subway

The Glasgow Subway is the only underground system in Scotland. It opened on 14 December 1896, making it the third-oldest underground network in the world after the Budapest Metro and the London Underground. It is owned and operated by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

Trams and light rail

Edinburgh Trams opened on 31 May 2014. It is the only system currently in operation in Scotland, although Aberdeen, Dundee, Dunfermline, Edinburgh and Glasgow formerly had extensive networks.

Motorways

Scotland has an extensive road network throughout the country. The motorway network is concentrated in the Central belt, with trunk roads (A roads) connecting the rest of the country.

Major routes in Scotland include:

• The M74 motorway and A74(M) motorway between Glasgow and the M6 at Carlisle
• The M77 motorway/A77 road between Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Ayr and Stranraer
• The M9 motorway between Edinburgh and Bridge of Allan
• The M8 motorway between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Greenock
• The M80 motorway between Glasgow and Stirling
• The M90 motorway between Edinburgh, Kinross and Perth
• The A1 road between Edinburgh, Musselburgh, Haddington, Dunbar, Berwick and London
• The A82 road between Glasgow, Crianlarich, Fort William and Inverness via Loch Lomond and The Trossachs and Loch Ness
• The A9 road between Falkirk, Stirling, Perth, Pitlochry, Aviemore, Inverness, Golspie, Thurso and Scrabster ferry terminal, (connecting to the NorthLink Ferries ferry to Stromness, Orkney) via The Cairngorms
• The A90 road between Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee, Forfar, Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Peterhead and Fraserburgh

Traffic

Within the large cities, roads become congested in peak hours. The M8 and M77 motorways become heavily congested in peak hours, especially around Glasgow where it travels through the heart of the city. The main congestion hotspots are in Glasgow City Centre around the Kingston Bridge where a large amount of traffic leaves and enter the road. Also further down the road traffic joining at Hillington Estate and Braehead Shopping Centre near Glasgow Airport can cause hold-ups. Traffic is also extremely heavy between Glasgow and Edinburgh at all times, however rarely comes to a standstill.

Road construction

An extension to the M9 spur to link with the A90 at the Forth Bridge recently opened, as did the new Clackmannanshire Bridge over the Firth of Forth. A controversial extension to the M74 motorway through the southside of Glasgow was also completed in 2011. The road, first proposed in the 1960s, was due to be open in 2008 however legal action against the road was brought by environmental group Friends of the Earth. The action ultimately failed; however, the motorway has widespread opposition after ministers over-ruled the Local Public Inquiry held into the project which recommended that the road not be built, as it would be unable to substantially reduce congestion and would lead to more vehicles and pollution in the area. The Scottish Ministers voted for the road, believing that it will regenerate the inner city of Glasgow's Southside and bring economic benefits to Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and the Southside of Glasgow. Construction cost is estimated at £575 million, and it is Scotland's biggest roads project, and the first motorway to be built in a British urban area for decades.

	Motorways of Scotland
M73 – M74 – M77 – M8 – M80 – M876 – M898 – M9 – M90
A-roads with motorway restrictions
A74(M) – A823(M)

Ferries

Map of ferry services in Scotland

MV Isle of Mull, operated by Caledonian Macbrayne, serves the Craignure–Oban route

As Scotland is made up of several hundred islands, water has always been an important transport route for passengers and freight, particularly in the remote communities of the Hebrides.

Caledonian MacBrayne, a wholly-owned subsidiary of David MacBrayne Ltd, is wholly owned by Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Government. A total of 31 ferries serve a total of 52 ports and 49 routes on the ferry network in Scotland, with 5.3 million passengers travelling on the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry network in 2018.^[19] The ferry network in Scotland is faced with issues, in part due to the ageing fleet of the Caledonian MacBrayne network.^[20] The average age of a Caledonian MacBrayne vessel in 2023 was 40 years old, with MV Isle of Arran having been built in 1983, and serves the busiest route (Ardrossan–Brodick) in Scotland's ferry network.^[20]

The ferry network is often met with criticism by those living and working in Scotland's island communities, citing delays and cancellations as a reason for loss of earnings and impacting island communities local economies.^[21] Construction of two replacement vessels, MV Glen Sannox and "Hull 802" were awarded to Ferguson Marine in 2015, however, have faced major delays and budget overspending, trebling to £293 million.^[22]

In an attempt to deal with the political scandal arising from the ferry fiasco, the Scottish Government nationalised the Ferguson Marine shipyard, which, at the time of Scottish Government nationalisation, had debts of £70 million.^[23]

There are several ferry companies operating in Scotland including:

• Caledonian MacBrayne, a publicly owned ferry company with routes linking the mainland to all the major islands of the West Coast
• NorthLink Ferries, currently run by Serco, provides the lifeline and Scottish Government subsidised services to the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands, linking them with Aberdeen and Scrabster
• Pentland Ferries, car and passenger ferries from Gills Bay (Scottish Mainland) to St. Margaret's Hope (Orkney).
• Stena Line link Cairnryan to the Belfast in Northern Ireland
• P&O provide a link to Larne in Northern Ireland from Cairnryan
• DFDS operate the Rosyth - Zeebrugge ferry service (freight only since 2010), formerly operated by Superfast Ferries and Norfolkline
• Western Ferries based in Hunters Quay, Argyll, operates on the Firth of Clyde, providing a frequent vehicle link between Hunters Quay, Cowal and McInroy's Point, Gourock, Inverclyde.
• SIC Ferries, owned by the Shetland Islands Council provide inter-island services in Shetland
• Orkney Islands Council own Orkney Ferries, which provides inter-island services in Orkney

The Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, formerly Strathclyde Passenger Transport, the only regional passenger executive in Scotland also subsidises and operates ferries on the Clyde including the Kilcreggan Ferry and the Renfrew Ferry.

The ferry to Gothenburg, Sweden, from "Newcastle" (actually North Shields) in northern England (currently run by the Danish company DFDS Seaways), ceased at the end of October 2006.^[24] This service was a key route for Scottish tourist traffic from Sweden and Norway. The company cited high fuel prices and new competition from low-cost air services, especially Ryanair (which now flies to Glasgow Prestwick and London Stansted from Gothenburg City Airport), as being the cause. DFDS Seaways' sister company, DFDS Tor Line, will continue to run scheduled freight ships between Gothenburg and several English ports, including Newcastle, and these have limited capacity for passengers, but not private vehicles. The Newcastle-Kristiansand, Norway, route has however recently been cancelled.

Waterways

Scotland never had an extensive canal network. The Forth and Clyde Canal, Union Canal and the Caledonian Canal were some of the most important, but went into decline after the growth of the railways. They are now being reopened and restored primarily for leisure use.