ScotRail was a

train operating company In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways ...

in Scotland owned by

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

that operated the ScotRail franchise from March 1997 until October 2004. Prior to March 1997

ScotRail (British Rail) ScotRail was the trading name providing a distinctive brand for the British Rail network in Scotland, first adopted on 22 September 1983, under manager Chris Green, British Railways Scottish Region. ScotRail was the final brand of British Ra ...

ran the trains and after October 2004

First ScotRail First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup. It operated the ScotRail franchise between October 2004 and March 2015. On 17 October 2004, First ScotRail took over operations from the incumbent franchisee, ScotRai ...

ran them.

History

During the 1990s, the British Government undertook the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...

; the formerly state-owned

ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail (), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise as an operator of las ...

operation was the final of 25 passenger franchises to be bid for. On 1 April 1997, the British transport operator

took over operations of the franchise from incumbent

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

; it operated under the ScotRail brand. During 2002, National Express claimed that, unless additional public funding was provided to operate the

Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight Sleeping car, sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom ...

, the company could not afford to continue the service. Two years later, the operator was accused of misleading the travelling public about seat availability on its sleeper services, the alleged motive being to lower passenger numbers and thus strengthen the business case for the service's termination; this allegation was denied by a company spokesperson. The nature of ScotRail was a matter of some political controversy throughout its operation; in February 2003, the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

publicly promised to undertake various measures towards the renationalisation of Scotland's rail services, specifically mentioning the ending of the ScotRail franchise in favour of state control. In July 2003, the

Scottish Executive The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in t ...

and the

Strategic Rail Authority The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for the railway industry. Its motto was 'Britain's railway, properly delivered'. It ...

shortlisted

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.First ScotRail First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup. It operated the ScotRail franchise between October 2004 and March 2015. On 17 October 2004, First ScotRail took over operations from the incumbent franchisee, ScotRai ...

; operations were transferred to the new operator on 17 October 2004.

Services

ScotRail operated all passenger train services in Scotland, with the exception of the

Arriva Trains Northern Arriva Trains Northern was a train operating company in England owned by Arriva that operated the Regional Railways North East franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. History As part of the privatisation of British Rail, the Regio ...

, GNER,

Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Along with the InterCity West Coast franchise held by a separate legal ...

and

Virgin Trains West Coast Virgin Trains (VT) (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise fro ...

services from England. ScotRail operated services into England with services to

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, and the

services between Scotland and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. By 2004, in response to competitive pressure from emerging

budget airline A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

s, ScotRail had reduced some of its long distance fares.

Rolling stock

ScotRail inherited a fleet of Class 101, Class 117 Class 150, Class 156,

Class 158 The British Rail Class 158 '' Express Sprinter'' is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train. It is a member of the Sprinter series of regional trains, produced as a replacement for British Rail's first generation of DMUs; of the other m ...

, Class 303, Class 305, Class 314, Class 318 and Class 320s from

as well as Mark 2 carriages and Mark 3 sleepers for use on the

s and on some other passenger services. ScotRail contracted English Welsh & Scottish to haul the

services to London Euston. Class 90s were used south of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and Glasgow Central with Class 37s used on the portion to Fort William and Class 47s to

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

Depots

ScotRail's fleet was maintained at Haymarket, Glasgow Shields Road and

depots.

References

External links