ScotRail alcohol ban to end, Scottish Government says
In the Programme for Government (PfG) published on Tuesday, the Scottish Government said the current alcohol ban was "counterproductive" and would be replaced with new regulations which focus on particular times and locations.
The current rules, first introduced in 2020 as a measure to reduce the spread of Covid-19, are in effect 24 hours every day on all ScotRail trains and stations in Scotland.
In the 48-page PfG document, the Scottish Government pledged to "remove the ban on alcohol on trains", which it described as "a last legacy of Covid restrictions".
The ban on alcohol will be replaced with new regulations which "focus restrictions more effectively on particular times and locations".
Before the "temporary" ban on alcohol began on November 2020, alcohol was banned on ScotRail services between 9pm and 10am.
Addressing Holyrood on Tuesday afternoon, First Minister John Swinney also announced peak railway fares will be scrapped "for good" in Scotland from September 1.
Swinney said the decision would "put more money in people's pockets and mean less CO2 is pumped into our skies".
The peak fares pilot scheme was brought to an end on September 27 last year, after ministers had judged it to have failed given it not increased passenger numbers sufficiently.
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