Railway electrification in Scotland has proceeded in a different fashion than the rest of the UK especially in the 21st Century. There is political commitment to a substantial rolling programme of railway electrification from the Scottish government where transport is devolved.

Transport Scotland Transport Scotland ( gd, Còmhdhail Alba) is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. Organisa ...

and others have said "In Scotland,

decarbonisation Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels bur ...

is spelt E-L-E-C-T-R-I-F-Y". All parties including the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

are vigorously campaigning for electrification. As of January 2022, there is 2776 kilometres of track in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, and 711 kilometres are electrified representing 25.3%. To meet these needs, the plan is to electrify on average 130 single track kilometres (STK) per year until 2035.

Twentieth century history

Much of the Glasgow suburban network was electrified by 1960 with the introduction of blue trains. Electrified power lines began to appear at

Glasgow Central station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Main Concourse at Glasgow Central Station.JPG , caption = The main concourse , borough = Glasgow, City of Glasgow , country ...

high-level platforms at the start of 1960s under British Railways. Firstly came 6.25 kV AC overhead power lines from the

Cathcart Circle Line The Cathcart Circle Lines form a mostly suburban railway route linking Glasgow (Central) to Cathcart via a circular line, with branches to Newton and Neilston, on the south bank of the River Clyde. They are part of the Strathclyde Partnershi ...

electrification scheme, which started on 29 May 1962. The Ayr, Ardrossan and Largs lines were completed in 1986-1987. This was followed by the 25 kV AC overhead-power-lines electrification of the

Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway The Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway was the section of railway line between Glasgow Bridge Street railway station and Paisley, in the west of Scotland. It was constructed and operated jointly by two competing railway companies as the stem of ...

and the

Inverclyde Line The Inverclyde Line is a railway line running from Glasgow Central station through Paisley (Gilmour Street) and a series of stations to the south of the River Clyde and the Firth of Clyde, terminating at Gourock and Wemyss Bay, where it connec ...

to Gourock and Wemyss Bay, completed in 1967. The WCML electrification scheme from

Weaver Junction Weaver Junction is a railway junction connecting the West Coast Main Line (WCML) with the Weaver Junction–Liverpool line, opening on 1 April 1869. Trains bound for Liverpool from London diverge from the WCML at this junction. Weaver Junction i ...

to Glasgow was discussed in 1968 and a report issued, and was completed in 1974 with squadron service starting on 6 May 1974. Progressive upgrading of the Cathcart Circle to 25 kV AC supply was started in 1974 and the whole of the route was upgraded later. The East Coast Main Line (ECML) was electrified in stages and reached Edinburgh in 1991. The branch to North Berwick was done at the same time. In this timeframe the Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line was also electrified although it had been examined in 1978.

Twenty first century history

In Scotland, where transport is devolved to the Scottish Government,

has extended and continues to expand electrification. The

Airdrie–Bathgate rail link The Airdrie–Bathgate rail link is a completed railway project in central Scotland. Instigated as part of a round of transport improvement projects proposed by the then Scottish Executive in 2003, the plan was to open up a fourth direct railw ...

and the

Whifflet Line The Whifflet Line is one of the lines within the Strathclyde suburban rail network in Scotland. History The line was built between 1863 and 1865 as the Rutherglen and Coatbridge Railway, part of the Caledonian Railway. It opened to goods tr ...

were completed in November 2014. This is part of a larger plan that has seen many major routes in central Scotland electrified, including the main – route. They have pursued electrification with multiple schemes in the

Central Belt The Central Belt of Scotland is the Demography of Scotland, area of highest population density within Scotland. Depending on the definition used, it has a population of between 2.4 and 4.2 million (the country's total was around 5.4 million in ...

. All these have been 25kVAC, as in England and Wales. In September 2019, Transport for Scotland announced the goal of having Scottish transport net carbon neutral by the year 2035. This would be achieved by a rolling programme of electrification; where that is not feasible, using battery and other emerging technology such as

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...

. Electrification to

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, and was originally part of

Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme The Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme or EGIP was an initiative funded by Transport Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government to increase capacity on the main railway line between Edinburgh and Glasgow, with new, longer electric train ...

(EGIP). Electrification was completed by 2019; it was carried out under the rolling programme of electrification, rather than as part of the EGIP programme. EGIP was an initiative funded by

on behalf of the Scottish Government to increase capacity on the main

railway line Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...

between

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, with new, longer electric trains running by 2017 and scheduled for full completion in 2019. It was expected to cost £742 million and delivered by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

. The

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coalition government announced this in 2006. It was completed in October 2021 with the Glasgow Queen Street station modernisation. On 28 July 2020, Scottish Transport Secretary Michael Matheson announced plans to phase out fossil fuel use on the railway network by 2035. The plan would see most lines electrified, but suggests that intermittent electrification in difficult places may be implemented. Alternative traction will be implemented rather than electrification for some lightly-used lines. These are the

Far North Line The Far North Line is a rural railway line entirely within the Highland area of Scotland, extending from Inverness to Thurso and Wick. As the name suggests, it is the northernmost railway in the United Kingdom. The line is entirely single-trac ...

, Kyle of Lochalsh Line,

West Highland Line The West Highland Line ( gd, Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean - "Iron Road to the Isles") is a railway line linking the ports of Mallaig and Oban in the Scottish Highlands to Glasgow in Central Scotland. The line was voted the top rail journey in the ...

, and the southern portion of the Stranraer Line. Other Scottish political parties including the Green Party support a rolling programme and indeed want it accelerating.

has also published a list prioritising the projects and divided them into the categories of 1) in delivery, 2) in development, 3) under active consideration. On 1 July 2022, Network Rail confirmed investment and planning for the electrical grid feeders to power the schemes. Scotland electrification is using innovation to achieve its aims. Resiliency of the power supply is considered key and discontinuous electrification with Battery EMUs being used to achieve intermediate goals. The HLOS- High Level Output Statement for Scotland for CP7 reaffirmed commitment to a rolling programme of electrification and other upgrades.

Individual schemes

* Whifflet and Coatbridge line was to be done before 2014 games *

Levenmouth rail link The Levenmouth rail link (also called the Leven rail link) is a planned scheme to re-open of railway line in Fife, Scotland. The link will connect the town of Leven, Fife, Leven and other settlements in the Levenmouth conurbation with Thornton ...

* Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link * Larkfield to East Kilbride * Fife route - started June 2022.

East Kilbride scheme

In early 2021 a start was made on the electrification scheme to

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

Fife Circle Line

In June 2022 work commenced on the partial electrification of the

Fife Circle Line The Fife Circle Line is the local rail service north from Edinburgh. It links towns of south Fife and the coastal towns along the Firth of Forth before heading to Edinburgh. Operationally, the service is not strictly a circle route, but, rat ...

. This will involve extending the existing Edinburgh area electrification to Dalmeny, and an isolated area of electrification between Kirkcaldy, Lochgelly and Ladybank. This will allow the Fife Circle services to be operated by battery electric multiple units whilst minimising capital expenditure on infrastructure, in particular avoiding the major expense of electrifying the

Forth Bridge The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder in ...

. Complete electrification would be possible at some future date. The partial electrification is due to be completed in December 2025. Timeline as follows: * June 2022 Haymarket to Dalmeny electrification work started * December 2024 Haymarket to Dalmeny electrification work complete * December 2025 Partial electrification of Fife Circle Line

Under active consideration

Future phases of Decarbonisation Action Plan * Aberdeen to Central Belt Electrification * Aberdeen to Inverness Electrification * Dunblane-Hilton route clearance for future electrification * Electrification - Ayrshire and Glasgow & South West * Electrification - Dunfermline Queen Margaret to Longannet * Electrification - Fife Circle * Electrification - Fife to Perth and Dundee * Highland Mainline Electrification * New and enhanced grid feeders to power all the schemes

Maps

File:West Coast Main Line.png, West Coast Main Line Map includes Scotland File:East Coast Main Line Map.png, East Coast Main Line Map includes Scotland File:Rail map Scotland Glasgow-Edinburgh via Carstairs.png, Rail map Scotland Glasgow-Edinburgh via Carstairs File:Rail map Scotland Glasgow-Edinburgh via Falkirk.png, Rail map Scotland Glasgow-Edinburgh via Falkirk