New trains for Scotland

What’s next for Scotland’s train fleet?

ScotRail is now operating the second oldest train fleet in Britain, and two-thirds of the fleet need replacing in the next 15 years.

While progress is being made on suburban and intercity routes, critical gaps remain for the rest of the network.

We are tabling this issue as an urgent priority for the Scottish Government.

And we must be clear: in today’s tight fiscal climate, fleet renewal isn’t just about convenience.

It is critical infrastructure that underpins so much of our daily lives. New trains bring benefits for:

Designing trains around real passenger needs – with level boarding and better facilities & storage – will boost passenger experience & use of the railway.

Investing in the future of the railway creates jobs and better connects people to work, delivering return on investment for every taxpayer pound.

Investing in new trains ensures a dependable national network which keeps communities connected to family, work, education, and essential services.

A new fleet of trains better compete with private car, attracting new & returning passengers to the railway with a modern travel experience.

New train fleets can generate higher fare revenue, create economies of scale in maintenance, and lower long-term operating costs.

Replacing fossil-fuel trains directly cuts carbon emissions and encourages Scots to choose rail over carbon-intensive modes, such as driving.

Phasing out diesel trains eliminates harmful air pollution around stations whilst encouraging more active travel choices.

Our discussion paper ‘Scotland’s next trains: The ambition and urgency for fleet investment‘ sets out the context, the challenges and the opportunities of fleet renewal.

To read the full story on why new fleets are urgently needed, download the paper here.

A cross-sector issue

This June, we brought together over 40 senior leaders at The Scotsman Hotel for our New Trains for Scotland stakeholder working lunch.

Rather than treating this as a niche rail issue, we hosted a cross-sector room of operators, manufacturers, financiers, accessibility advocates, passenger groups, and environment and health interests.

Across the board, attendees agreed that a train is never just an operational asset, it is foundational infrastructure for the entire country. The benefits of strategic investment, and the severe penalties of inaction, ripple across every sector.

One of the strongest takeaways of the day was that delaying fleet renewal doesn’t eliminate costs; it simply shifts where they hit the balance sheet. When we defer strategic capital investment, public money is instead drained by rising day-to-day operational and maintenance spend just to keep near-obsolete assets moving. In essence, we end up spending more to maintain a lower standard of service, while missing out on a clear (albeit underestimated) economic multiplier effect and damaging supply chain confidence. Planning early and strategically is simply cheaper than waiting for asset depreciation to turn into crisis management.

Because immediate public capital is tightly constrained, the room didn’t look for easy answers. Instead, attendees debated practical, innovative delivery models – including structures that split risk between the government and private finance, EUROFIMA, borrowing capabilities, ROSCOs evolution and wider mechanisms like Land Value Capture.

What next?

We look forward to building momentum around this issue with the cross-sector alliance established at this event. We are incredibly pleased that Transport Scotland and Scottish Rail Holdings are actively engaged with us on this, and we welcome ongoing discussions with them and other decision-makers.

Ultimately, the insights and evidence gathered from the day will directly shape our upcoming report this autumn. We’re ready to show policymakers that investing in new trains isn’t just a win for the rail network; it’s a critical lever for Scotland and it’s economy, its environment, its health, and its future.