Rèile na h-Alba | |
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Main area(s) | Scotland |
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Other area(s) | Northern England |
Stations called at | 354 operated [1] |
Other | |
Website | www.scotrail.co.uk |
ScotRail (Scottish Gaelic : Rèile na h-Alba) has been the brand name used for all Scottish regional and commuter rail services, including some cross-border services, since September 1983, as well as many of the country's intercity services.
Since 2008, it is the permanent name of the Scottish commuter rail service, regardless of the train operating company that operates it. The ScotRail service was re-nationalised on 1 April 2022. [2]
The ScotRail brand was created by British Railways Scottish Region manager Chris Green in the mid 1980s [3] to provide a distinctive brand for the rail network in Scotland. The brand has developed and is still in use today.
ScotRail, under British Rail, used customised versions of the existing liveries, with passenger locomotives and coaching stock painted in a lightly modified version of the InterCity Executive livery. The red stripe was replaced with a saltire blue stripe, and the InterCity name was replaced with the ScotRail name. Most diesel locomotives carried standard InterCity Executive livery, but with ScotRail branding. Diesel and electric multiple units carried normal versions of the Regional Railways livery. In the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport area, rolling stock (DMUs and EMUs) was painted in Strathclyde orange and black.
The brand was adopted by National Express when it took over the franchise from British Rail during privatisation in 1997. [4] The first unique ScotRail livery was introduced shortly after privatisation under National Express, who introduced its own livery. Initially, vehicles received the new ScotRail logo applied with vinyl stickers; a stylised outline of Scotland composed of three flashes in colours of green, red and purple. [5]
Multiple units were painted into the new livery with bodies in white (lower half) and purple (upper half) with green, red and white stripes bordering the purple, overlain by and a wide diagonal white band in the centre of the carriage. There were no units left with Regional Railways livery in Scotland at the end of the National Express franchise period, although the Class 305 electric units retained it until withdrawal in 2001. The latter were replaced by ex-Stansted Skytrain Class 322 units which were never repainted under the National Express franchise, receiving only ScotRail logo transfers. When the Class 322 hire ended in 2004, they were replaced on the North Berwick branch by English Welsh & Scottish Class 90 electric locomotives hauling former Virgin Trains West Coast Mark 3 coaching stock, in the old Virgin red and grey livery, again with ScotRail logo transfers. [6]
When FirstGroup became the franchisee on 17 October 2004, in line with other rail franchises it held, the brand was revised as First ScotRail. [7] [8]
When First originally acquired the franchise, a new regional livery of pink, grey and purple and a new logo of a pink circle and an italicised f character was introduced. Legislation requiring train doors to be painted in a contrasting colour to the body, for visually impaired passengers, resulted in white doors with a pink stripe. Like National Express, First applied their logo on units by transfer until repainting. A large number of units were re-branded into this livery, including the Class 322 units re-acquired and refurbished for North Berwick service and the Class 90 locomotives used on Caledonian Sleeper services.
In September 2008 the Scottish Government agency, Transport Scotland, announced that the franchised Scottish rail services would be permanently renamed ScotRail. [9] [10] Transport Scotland designed with a new livery of dark blue background, with grey doors and a white dotted 'Saltire' Scottish flag. A new logo was also applied, ScotRail, with the tagline 'Scotland's Railway', which on some units is replaced with the Scottish Gaelic translation 'Rèile na h-Alba'. Stations and staff uniforms were also given a new dark blue look. This livery is not replaced when the franchise ends, the only branding showing the operator will be a small "ScotRail is operated by" sign on the station building and on the train doors. [11] When next tendered in 2015, the franchise was split with the Caledonian Sleeper becoming a separate franchise. [12] On 1 April 2015, the ScotRail franchise was taken over by Abellio ScotRail while the Caledonian Sleeper service was taken over by Serco.
From 1 April 2015 to 1 April 2022, ScotRail was operated by Abellio. [13] This franchise ended on the 31 March 2022. [14]
On 1 April 2022, a Scottish Government-owned operator of last resort took over operation of the ScotRail service, maintaining the ScotRail brand. [15]
The UK Government plans to bring railway services in the UK under a single national brand by 2023 known as Great British Railways. Railway services in Scotland are planned to use GBR's branding, albeit with a "regional variant", with the plan emphasising the need for a unified brand to display the railway as one network. It remains unclear what direct impact the GBR brand will have on the ScotRail brand. [16]
First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup which operated the ScotRail franchise from October 2004 until March 2015. Prior to October 2004, trains were run by ScotRail. First ScotRail was succeeded by Abellio ScotRail on 1 April 2015.
InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services.
FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, which is based in Aberdeen in the north-east of Scotland. The company operates transport services in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
A train operating company (TOC) is the term used on the railway system of Great Britain for a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993.
The British Rail Class 86 is a class of electric locomotives built during the 1960s. Developed as a 'standard' electric locomotive from earlier prototype models, one hundred of these locomotives were built from 1965 to 1966 to haul trains on the then newly electrified West Coast Main Line (WCML) from London Euston to Birmingham, Crewe, Liverpool, Manchester and later Glasgow and Preston. Introduction of the class enabled the replacement of many steam locomotives, which were finally withdrawn by British Rail in 1968.
The British Rail Class 156 Super Sprinter is a diesel multiple unit passenger train. A total of 114 sets were built between 1987 and 1989 for British Rail by Metro-Cammell's Washwood Heath works. They were built to replace elderly first-generation DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
The British Rail Class 170 Turbostar is a British diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger train built by Adtranz and later Bombardier Transportation at Derby Litchurch Lane Works. Introduced after privatisation, these trains operate regional as well as long-distance services, and to a lesser extent suburban services. A total of 139 units were built, but some were later converted to Class 168 and Class 171 units. These trains are currently in use with West Midlands Trains, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Transport for Wales Rail, ScotRail and Northern Trains.
The British Rail Mark 3 is a type of passenger carriage developed in response to growing competition from airlines and the car in the 1970s. A variant of the Mark 3 became the rolling stock for the High Speed Train (HST).
The British Rail Class 322 was a class of electric multiple unit passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited in 1990 for the Stansted Express service from London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport. After becoming surplus to requirements on this route, the fleet saw further use with a number of other operators.
The British Rail Class 92 is a dual-voltage electric locomotive, which can run on 25 kV AC from overhead wires or 750 V DC from a third rail. It was designed specifically to operate services through the Channel Tunnel between Great Britain and France. Eurotunnel indicates the Class 92 locomotive as the reference for other locomotives which railway undertakings might want to get certified for usage in the Channel tunnel.
The British Rail Class 321 is a class of electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited's York Carriage Works in three batches between 1988 and 1991 for Network SouthEast and Regional Railways. The class uses alternating current (AC) overhead electrification. The design was successful and led to the development of the similar Class 320 and Class 322.
The Class 67 locomotives are a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives that were built for the English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) between 1999 and 2000 by Alstom at Meinfesa in Valencia, Spain with drive components from General Motors' Electro-Motive Division.
The British Rail Class 90 electric locomotives were built for mixed-traffic duties, operating from 25 kV AC overhead lines and producing 5,000 bhp (3,700 kW). They weigh 84.5 tonnes and can typically achieve a top speed of 110 mph (177 km/h).
The transport system in Scotland is generally well-developed. The Scottish Parliament has control over most elements of transport policy within Scotland, with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity holding portfolio responsibility within the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland is the Executive Agency responsible for the Scottish transport network.
Caledonian Sleeper is the collective name for overnight 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 other being the Night Riviera which runs between London and Penzance.
The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line is a main railway route which connects the Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, by means of their respective sections of the West Coast Main Line (WCML).
The history of British Rail's corporate liveries is quite complex. Although from the mid-1960s to the 1980s the organisation was associated with "Rail Blue", a number of other schemes were also used, especially when it was split into operating units or "sectors" in the mid-1980s.
The ScotRail trading name was adopted on 22 September 1983, under manager Chris Green, British Railways Scottish Region to provide a distinctive brand for the British Rail network in Scotland.
Abellio ScotRail, operating services under the name ScotRail, was the national train operating company of Scotland. A subsidiary of Abellio, it operated the ScotRail franchise from 1 April 2015, taking over from predecessor First ScotRail.
ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail, is a British 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 last resort since 1 April 2022.