SCOTRAIL’S intercity fleet will be entirely replaced, as confirmed by Transport Scotland, with the fleet currently including 25 trains.
The trains – known as the high-speed train fleet (HST) – operate on the “intercity” routes between major cities Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
When the initial phase of bringing them in was complete, they brought in a 33% increase in capacity on these routes and reduced the journey time between Inverness and the central belt by 10 minutes.
Cabinet secretary for transport Fiona Hyslop said: “Resilient, reliable ScotRail services are key to encouraging more people to choose to travel by train for work, leisure and learning.
“Over 4 million passengers travelled on InterCity trains between our key cities in the last year – we want to encourage even more people to do so.
“This procurement will enable us to replace the current Intercity fleet with trains, which provide improved facilities and accessibility.
“Any replacement fleet is expected to be more energy efficient and therefore will significantly reduce emissions, reduce operating costs and be more in line with current passenger expectations, including for accessibility.
“The procurement process ensures Scottish suppliers will be able to offer to provide their services to potential bidders.
“This latest milestone in our rolling programme of decarbonisation will ensure the reliability of our Intercity routes for the long-term, making Scotland’s railway a more attractive and greener travel choice.”
The replacement contract is expected to be awarded in 2025 and will be published along with the Decarbonisation Action plan in Spring 2025.
