Chapter 4: Suburban
Our suburban rail services are largely concentrated to Scotland’s central belt. They support our business, education and tourism sectors linking our two largest cities and also gateways to some of Scotland’s most renowned historical landmarks. These services form a key part of our rail network, with travel on East and West suburban rail services accounting for circa three quarters of ScotRail’s passenger volumes.
A majority of these routes have already been modernised and a number of our passenger services have benefitted from the introduction of the Class 385 ScotRail fleet in 2018 which allowed older fleets to be retired or cascaded to other parts of the network.
The line to Barrhead was the most recent addition to the electrified network, and our rolling programme of electrification continues through the East Kilbride enhancement project. With over £143 million of Scottish Government investment, passengers on this line will benefit from electrified services on this route from December 2025.
We recognise the importance of our suburban services and the need to sustain them. Taking this into consideration, we will replace the trains that run on the below routes:
- Edinburgh via Fife to Perth and Dundee.
- The Borders route from Edinburgh to Tweedbank.
- The Glasgow inner suburban network.
Collectively, this procurement will replace train fleets which carry 30% of Scotland’s Passengers (Glasgow Inner Suburban 23% and Borders and Fife 7%).
Work is already underway in the East of Scotland to sufficiently electrify the line between Haymarket and Dalmeny to support the Fife electrification scheme.
In addition to this, we have been investing in delivering an electric power Feeder Station Programme. Phase 1 will see six feeder stations delivered at Tweedbank, Thornton, Portobello and Newton, with feeder stations already completed at Ferguslie and Currie. This programme will provide the power to facilitate the electrification of the Fife and Border routes along with maintaining the resilience of the electrical power required for the Scottish rail network.
Our Plan
We are investing £342 million to introduce new electric and battery-electric trains on the Glasgow inner suburban network and our Fife and Borders lines which will ensure the operational sustainability of these services.
Many of the electric trains that currently operate within the Strathclyde region are reaching the end of their life. To sustain our passenger services, we will replace these fleets with new electric trains on this part of the network.
We are also replacing the diesel trains that currently operate on the Fife and Borders routes by introducing new battery-electric trains to the network. This will be the first time this type of bi-mode train will operate on the Scottish rail network, and we will deliver sufficient electrification to allow these trains to enter into service. Electrifying these routes in this manner will reduce disruption to our passenger services whilst also reducing the capital costs of electrification. This has been made possible thanks to the recent advancements in technology.
These new trains will provide many of the same benefits as the InterCity fleet in terms of improved maintenance, reliability and environmental credentials.
