During the 2023 UCI World Cycling Championships which have been held in Scotland over the last two weeks over 3.5 million customers travelled on ScotRail services, making it the busiest period since before the pandemic.

This weekend 469,000 customers travelled on Scotland’s railway, making a total of just under one million journeys for the last two weekends alone. Record numbers travelled on the first two days of last week, Monday and Tuesday 7th and 8th of August, which was the highest number of journeys since 2019, with 538,000 journeys over the two days.

During the ten days of the cycling championships, there were 647,000 more journeys compared with the same period last year. Hundreds of extra ScotRail staff were on hand to assist customers, and the championships were a huge success for ScotRail, with record numbers of people passing through its stations.

It is not only the World Cycling Championships that have swelled the numbers, but the Scottish football season has restarted and it’s also time for the Edinburgh Festivals. ScotRail is providing extra services and more seats to help people travel to and from Edinburgh.

Following on from the hectic events of the last few weeks, ScotRail has today launched a ‘Go by train’ campaign that aims to encourage people to travel by train when they are planning days out in Scotland. The campaign is centred around a new Inspiration Hub on ScotRail’s website where there are hundreds of ideas for things to do, events to visit, and discounts and offers from places within easy reach of more than 300 train stations across the country.

Following on from the hectic events of the last few weeks, ScotRail has today launched a ‘Go by train’ campaign that aims to encourage people to travel by train when they are planning days out in Scotland. The campaign is centred around a new Inspiration Hub on ScotRail’s website where there are hundreds of ideas for things to do, events to visit, and discounts and offers from places within easy reach of more than 300 train stations across the country.

Alex Hynes, Scotland’s Railway Managing Director, said: “It is absolutely fantastic to see how many people have travelled on our services, and we are delighted to have played such an important part in a very busy two weeks for the country.

“Travelling by train is an excellent way to experience everything Scotland has to offer, and we hope that the huge numbers of extra customers over the past two weeks continue to choose ScotRail.

“Our new Go by train campaign has also been launched today, and I am sure it will help to spark imaginations and show the fantastic experiences that Scotland’s Railway can make possible.”