Can it be true? Sensible policies for Scotland's trains at last

The Herald Scotland

10-05-2025

The truth, in fact, is that the law always meant nothing, and no-one, except the most swotty and the most tutty, ever paid attention to it, and the staff never enforced it and why would they? I was on a Glasgow-Edinburgh recently and a group of lads got on at Falkirk High and cracked open the Buds and the conductor came along and didn't say anything and I wouldn't expect her to: why would a member of staff on their own be expected to stop a group of people drinking? The management and the unions effectively admitted it recently when they said the no-alcohol rule was unenforceable.
That doesn't mean, by the way, that we should just give up on laws because everyone's ignoring them – if a law makes sense, it should be enforced – but the other problem with the no-alcohol rule was that it lacked any evidential basis. It was introduced during the pandemic because we were told a booze ban on trains would prevent the spread of the virus, but then the apparent motivation shifted and we were told it was to prevent anti-social behaviour. Quite apart from the fact people can get tanked up before they get on a train, and do, ScotRail eventually admitted there was no evidence that the ban had an effect on anti-social behaviour. In other words, no evidence for the law. Bad law. SNP drops law, eventually. Which is the first good policy decision.
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The second in the new programme for government was the announcement on peak rail fares, even though there's a potential problem lurking in the detail. You'll remember that a pilot ending peak fares was launched in 2023 with the aim of encouraging more people to use the train but the pilot was scrapped at the end of last year because we were told passenger levels had increased by 6.8% and it needed to be 10% to be self-financing. John Swinney has now said peak fares will be scrapped for good.
This is the right decision for a number of reasons, mainly the fact that the concept of 'peak' was never logical. If the idea was to encourage people to travel at quieter times, it could never work because most people who travel at 8.30 and at 5.30 have no choice because that's the hours they work. And if it couldn't move passengers to different times, then it was really just an extra charge on commuters because they commute which isn't fair. Working patterns are also changing with much less emphasis on 9-5. It no longer made any sense.
The potential problem lies in the finances. Mr Swinney says he can afford to scrap peak fares because the SNP has done so much work to get Scotland's finances in a stronger position, but it all amounts to the same thing: the government is subsidising the decision. The STUC is fine with this and says the decision puts "people before profits". But trains have to make a profit to be sustainable and the end of peak fares will need to meet that test eventually; in other words, passenger numbers will have to grow or ticket prices will need to go up across the board (peak and non-peak). This is likely, but it would still be fairer, and more logical, than the nonsense of 'peak'. So: second good policy decision.
The alcohol ban is to be scrapped
Which brings us to the third. Last summer, I was with a bunch of folk from Winchburgh who took a bus to Holyrood and made their case to MSPs for a new train station in their village. The village lies on the Glasgow-Edinburgh main line but all they can do is watch the trains rush past and take the car instead, or do the interminable bus trip. Their point is that a new train station makes economic sense for a growing community close to Edinburgh and the developers who are building lots of new houses in the village have already put a lot of the infrastructure in place. No brainer.
At first, the signs from the government weren't good. I asked John Swinney about it and he said it sounded like a good idea but waffled a bit about Westminster cuts and how the project should be led by the developers even though they aren't a transport authority and have no power to open stations. But now, a few months later: result. As part of its new programme, the government has announced that the proposal for the new station at Winchburgh will be examined, along with others. We already know the effect that new stations can have on communities and the economy, so, again: good news.
Whether it's all part of a coherent plan for Scotland's railways I'm less sure – for example, the government still seems pointlessly obsessed with trying to trim a few minutes off certain routes. But three steps forward is better than no steps forward. Peak fares are finished: good. We're hopefully going to look properly at more new stations: good. And best of all: we'll soon be able to legally drink alcohol on trains again. When the time comes, I intend to celebrate this breakthrough by getting on a train and taking a sip or two from a can of M&S G&T, the drink of rebels. It tastes better when it's illegal, but it'll do.
Mark Smith is a Herald columnist and feature writer