The Scottish Government

The new Scottish passenger rail franchise

The new ScotRail franchise agreement was signed on August 20, 2004 and FirstGroup plc were confirmed as the new franchise operator. The franchise will run for seven years, costing approximately £1.9 billion, with a possible extension for an extra three.

Under the new agreement First ScotRail began running services under the new franchise on the October 17, 2004.

Improvements which have been agreed as part of, the Franchise Agreement include:

• Higher standards for performance, including tougher penalties for poor performance, a new quality regime for stations and trains, a dedicated team to resolve any disruption to services and a unique requirement for immediate action plans if anything goes wrong
• Improved punctuality and reliability of services to be delivered through the operation of 29 more reliable and better quality trains
• Improved passenger safety and comfort, including higher standards of cleanliness, security and travel information on trains and at stations
• Station improvements, improved seating capacity, plans to reduce overcrowding and ticket fraud

The Franchise will also allow extra services to be added as and when necessary at a reasonable cost to help deliver the Executive's future plans for the Scottish rail network.

In addition, the outcome of the Rail Review will confer greater responsibility for rail within Scotland to be devolved to the Executive. Currently the Executive specifies and funds the ScotRail franchise, but rather than having powers to let and sign the franchise, it provides the SRA with Directions and Guidance in respect to rail provision. In future, the Executive will also be responsible for letting, monitoring and managing the Scottish franchise, and become the sole public sector signatory of the franchise.