Last updated: Wednesday 18 November 2020
Face coverings
You must cover your face at all stages of your journey with ScotRail, including on trains.
There are some exceptions. ScotRail customers do not need to wear a face covering if, for example:
- you are a child under five years old
- you have a health condition where a face covering would be inappropriate because it would cause difficulty, pain or severe distress or anxiety or because you cannot apply a covering and wear it in the proper manner safely and consistently
- you have a reasonable need to eat or drink
- you need to take medication
- you need to communicate with someone else who relies on lip reading
- a relevant person, such as a police officer, asks you to remove your face covering. If necessary, British Transport Police have enforcement powers including issuing fines of £60 (halving to £30 if paid within 28 days) if members of the public do not comply with this law without a reasonable excuse
Guidance on the use of suitable face coverings is available from the Scottish Government here
Hand sanitiser
We recommend that you use your own hand sanitiser when using ScotRail trains and stations.
You’ll also find hand sanitiser available at major stations across ScotRail, including:
- Glasgow Central
- Edinburgh Waverley
- Haymarket
- Glasgow Queen Street
Station cleaning regime
We’ve changed our in station cleaning regime to focus on the types of cleaning that best combat the spread of Coronavirus.
As we increase our service capacity we want to reassure you that we are doing all we can to keep stations safe from the spread of Coronavirus. Our staff are at the heart of this operation, and are going above and beyond to keep Scotland's Railway clean during the Coronavirus pandemic. Here are some of the steps we're taking:
- Regularly cleaning our key touch points at stations like ticket machines and hand rails.
- We’ve briefed all of our cleaning staff on our cleaning priorities and we are redeploying staff in some areas to focus on cleaning.
- Our station toilets provide hot water and soap. We advise customers to follow government advice by washing their hands for at least 20 seconds. If you come across any customer areas without soap and hot water, please let us know immediately.
We urge passengers to play their part, and follow our 5 Rules For Safer Travel when using the railway.
You should also keep up to date with the latest official health advice. For health information and for answers to frequently asked questions on traveling by rail during this challenging period please visit the National Rail Enquiries website
Physical distancing and one-way systems
In ScotRail stations, we have introduced floor and wall markings, and labels, to help to keep you at a safe distance from others.
You’ll see these markings at Ticket Offices, on concourses and along platforms. You may also see measures to control the flow of customers through a station, such as a one-way system. We have also temporarily closed shelters in stations to ensure our customers are able to physically distance from one another. This is for your safety and will be clearly explained with floor markings and signage. Please allow a few additional minutes to enter and exit our stations. If you have a visual impairment, our team will assist you where we have introduced a different way of moving about the station.
Buying your ticket
If you buy online using our website or with the ScotRail app, you can collect your ticket at a station ticket machine or upload it to your ScotRail Smartcard. This could help to minimise your contact at station. Find out how to apply for your free Smartcard, and how it works, here
There are ticket machines at 179 ScotRail stations. Some accept cash only, some accept credit or debit cards only, and some accept both. You can check your station ticket machine here .
You can still pay for your ticket with cash, or by debit or credit card, at any of our 143 staffed station ticket offices.
Assisted Travel
If you normally require a little extra help when travelling with us, our Assisted Travel service is operating as normal.
We are taking extra steps to make sure that our people and our customers remain safe while we provide assistance. Our people will wear a face covering or visor while assisting you and will maintain physical distancing as much as possible when assisting you.
When we need to be closer, such as helping customers with blindness by offering them a supporting arm to hold, we will do so in the safest way possible and for as little time as possible.
Whenever we can, we will make sure that our people wash or sanitise their hands before and after assisting you.
You can book an assisted travel journey online or by calling 0800 912 2901 free of charge. Assisted travel textphone number for people hard of hearing is 18001 0800 912 2 901.
If you haven't booked assistance and you're travelling from an unstaffed station, just use our station Help Points to speak to us. The Help Points are staffed from the beginning to end of service, seven days per week.
With the current Coronavirus situation, on occasion we may need to close the Ticket Office of a staffed station at short notice due to staff illness. If you notice that the Ticket Office of your origin station is closed, please do not worry. Make your way to your departure platform, use the Help Point to let us know you are there, and our train crew will assist you.
Station opening hours and toilet access
We have made no permanent changes to the opening hours of our stations and station toilets remain open as normal.
From time to time, we may experience a higher level of staff absence due to Coronavirus and this could mean a short-notice change to the opening hours of a Ticket Office in particular station. In this happens, this is what we will do:
- We will do our best to move staff from another station to prevent the Ticket Office from being closed
- We will try our best to make sure that the Ticket Office is staffed for the busiest parts of the day, using our data to identify the times where most customers travel and could need our support
- We inform our customer facing teams of the station closure so they are up-to-date
- We will use our CCTV facilities to monitor the station and ensure that it continues to be a safe environment for our customers
If you are affected by a short notice change to the opening ours of a Ticket Office at a ScotRail station, please use the Help Point located on the platform to speak to us. Our teams are happy to provide assistance.
Make the right choice. Play your part.
Your face covering reduces the spread and protects everyone. We all need to wear one.
