Fife MSP and Transport Minister says ScotRail nationalisation is 'exciting opportunity'

The Fife MSP who is the Transport Minister for the Scottish Government says the nationalisation of ScotRail represents an "exciting opportunity" for Scotland's railways.

Today is the first day of publicly owned ScotRail Trains Limited running the rail operator north of the border.

Dutch firm Abellio completed its final day of running the service yesterday after seven years.

The first service under public ownership started just before 5am this morning.

It was the 4.56am Inverness to Edinburgh train, which travelled through Fife (see the video from ScotRail's Twitter below that shows the moment it entered the Kingdom after crossing the Tay), although it didn't stop at any station in the region.

Train journeys don’t get much better than this!😍

The 0456 Inverness to Edinburgh - the first ScotRail Trains service - crossing the River Tay in bright sunshine and blue skies. View from the driver’s cab! pic.twitter.com/Beohgf51Ve

— ScotRail (@ScotRail) April 1, 2022

This weekend (2 and 3 April 2022), the rail operator is offering free travel for children aged between 5 and 15-years-old, with a limit of four kids per paying adult, as long as a "Kids Go Free" voucher is shown.

Jenny Gilruth, the MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes, says it's important to deliver a rail service that caters to the needs of Scots:

Image from Scottish Government (Flickr) released under Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)