The Scottish Government has announced that procurement will begin to replace its Intercity trains.

The procurement, led by ScotRail on behalf of Transport Scotland, will seek a replacement for the High Speed Train (HST) fleet which operates on its InterCity routes between Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop said: “Resilient, reliable ScotRail services are key to encouraging more people to choose to travel by train rather than car, to cutting our transport emissions and to helping to move people around Scotland for work, leisure and learning.

“That is why we must build on our investment in Scotland’s railway infrastructure by investing in the services and trains which connect our key cities.

“Over 4 million passenger journeys were made on InterCity trains in the last year. We want to maintain and where possible, increase that number choosing to go by train between Scotland’s cities.

“We want to replace the current Intercity fleet with trains which provide more comfort and accessibility for passengers on these routes.

“This planned investment will ensure the reliability of our Intercity routes for the long-term, will reduce emissions from Intercity services and will support our efforts to decarbonise Scotland’s railways.”