Transport in Scotland
Intercity services are also operated by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Caledonian Sleeper, London North Eastern Railway and TransPennine Express.
[9] The East and West Coast Main Lines are the two cross-border railways that connect the networks of Scotland and England.
[10] Since April 2022, Transport Scotland has taken ScotRail back into public ownership via its operator of last resort, Scottish Rail Holdings.
The second half of the nineteenth century saw a rapid expansion of the network, and by 1900; virtually every town with a population greater than 2,000 on the Scottish mainland had a railway station.
At the same time, trains became more comfortable, faster and more frequent whilst the cost of travel declined relative to wages.
Nevertheless, there were probably never more than 100 million or so journeys made per year within Scotland, little more than 20 per head of population, illustrating how most people had little need, financial means or desire to travel long distances.
[19] Since 1997, rail usage has risen, which has resulted in the reopening of former railway lines and stations closed under the Beeching Axe.
Major reopenings include: In 2008, the Scottish Government announced that £200 million would be spent to reduce journey times between Aberdeen and both Edinburgh and Glasgow.
It is the only system currently in operation in Scotland, although Aberdeen, Dundee, Dunfermline, Edinburgh and Glasgow formerly had extensive networks.
The main congestion hotspots are in Glasgow City Centre around the Kingston Bridge where a large amount of traffic leaves and enter the road.
Also further down the road traffic joining at Hillington Estate and Braehead Shopping Centre near Glasgow Airport can cause hold-ups.
The action ultimately failed; however, the motorway has widespread opposition after ministers over-ruled the Local Public Inquiry held into the project which recommended that the road not be built, as it would be unable to substantially reduce congestion and would lead to more vehicles and pollution in the area.
Construction cost is estimated at £575 million, and it is Scotland's biggest roads project, and the first motorway to be built in a British urban area for decades.
However, the deal is being monitored by the competition commission to ensure that it does not unfairly damage long-distance bus travel in Scotland.
FirstGroup and Stagecoach Group are two large public transport companies which are based in Scotland at Aberdeen and Perth, respectively, and both operate a number of local and regional services.
Scotland's bus network, like that of Great Britain outside London, is deregulated following an act of UK Parliament in 1986.
[22] As Scotland is made up of several hundred islands, water has always been an important transport route for passengers and freight, particularly in the remote communities of the Hebrides.
[24] The average age of a Caledonian MacBrayne vessel in 2023 was 40 years old, with MV Isle of Arran having been built in 1983, and serves the busiest route (Ardrossan–Brodick) in Scotland's ferry network.
[25] Construction of two replacement vessels, MV Glen Sannox (2017) and "Hull 802" were awarded to Ferguson Marine in 2015, however, have faced major delays and budget overspending, trebling to £293 million.
The ferry to Gothenburg, Sweden, from Newcastle (actually North Shields) in northern England (currently run by the Danish company DFDS Seaways), ceased at the end of October 2006.
The company cited high fuel prices and new competition from low-cost air services, especially Ryanair (which now flies to Glasgow Prestwick and London Stansted from Gothenburg City Airport), as being the cause.
[30] In 2019, 3.5 million international inbound visits to Scotland occurred, with a total visitor spending being estimated £2.5 billion.
Inverness Airport is largely considered as the "air gateway" for the Scottish Highland area and Scotland's islands.
[33] It is the largest of the ten airports serving the Highlands and Islands region, handling more than 330 flights per week to both Scottish and UK-wide destinations in 2009.
Islay Airport is known as the "Queen of the Hebrides" and is connected to the Scottish mainland with flights to Glasgow operated by British Airways.
