Scotrail_Age Scotland

ScotRail operates thousands of services all over Scotland every day, but its trains are so much more than just a way of getting from A to B. Whenever you travel with ScotRail you’re not only boosting your green credentials by reducing your carbon footprint, you are also helping to support hundreds of charities, community groups and businesses right across Scotland.

When you travel with ScotRail, you are helping to support hundreds of businesses, charities and community groups across Scotland – as well as tackling key issues like loneliness in older people, writes Annabelle Love

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Good age Age Scotland campaigners at Glasgow Queen St

Wheel of fortune ScotRail staff volunteers at the Falkirk Wheel

Your ScotRail ticket goes further than you think

A partnership journey

Sky high A ScotRail volunteer taking part in the abseiling challenge

The collaboration kicked off last April, after ScotRail and Network Rail staff voted to choose Age Scotland as Scotland Railway’s Charity Partner. Age Scotland works to improve the lives of everyone over 50, aiming to inspire, involve and empower older people in Scotland, and influence others, so that everyone can make the very best of their later life. ScotRail staff embraced the partnership with enthusiasm, taking on abseiling challenges at the Forth Road Bridge and the Falkirk Wheel, ziplining across the River Clyde in Glasgow, running the Supernova Kelpies 5k and doing a 13 mile walk from Dumbarton station to Balloch Station. They held bucket collections, bake sales, craft fairs, musical performances, auctions and raffles.

“We are looking forward to continuing our work together and making an even greater impact in the years ahead.” The partnership has also helped Age Scotland reach millions of people across the country, thanks to a series of television and radio adverts, and posters on trains and at stations – all highlighting the charity’s support for older people across Scotland and boosting awareness. And ScotRail provided complimentary travel for Age Scotland employees as they work across the country.

How Age Scotland supports older people, with help from ScotRail

● Age Scotland’s free Helpline provided information, friendship and advice to almost 30,000 older people in the past year. ● Age Scotland’s Friendship Services provide companionship and social connections for thousands of lonely older people each year. ● The charity supports more than 500 local older people’s groups and organisations right across Scotland. ● And it distributes more than 125,000 information guides a year on topics including dementia, benefits, energy advice, social care, health and wellbeing and legal advice.

Age old partnership ScotRail staff with a campaigner from Age Scotland

Three years on from its return to public ownership, Scotland’s Railway is going from strength to strength – contributing an incredible £4billion to our economy, an independent economic impact report shows. The train operator supports 11,300 jobs both directly and indirectly and drives regional growth, making our society and economy greener. In 2023/24, ScotRail passengers took 81 million journeys at 364 stations across 2,800 miles of track. They spent an estimated £567 million in Scotland’s tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors as part of their journeys, according to analysis by Steer, a transport and infrastructure consultancy. And the environmental benefits are clear too – passengers using ScotRail services avoid more than a billion car kilometres, the equivalent of over 120,000 tonnes of road-related carbon emissions per year. Joanne Maguire, ScotRail managing director, says: “We know that our £4billion impact is not just felt by the hundreds of thousands of our customers who travel on our trains every day – our reach and support goes beyond that, into communities the length and breadth of the country.”

Whenever you travel with Scotland’s Railway you are helping to support hundreds of charities and community groups right across Scotland. That’s because ScotRail is behind a series of ambitious projects and partnerships aimed at supporting local communities, tackling deprivation and enriching the rail experience. In 2023, it invested over £110,000 in its Adopt a Station programme, providing funding to more than 1,100 volunteers at 224 Scottish stations, enabling volunteers to adopt their local station and improve how it looks for the whole community. In Inverclyde, Friends of Wemyss Bay Station took on some empty rooms 16 years ago, creating a vibrant social hub. ScotRail provides them with the space, help and support to run the service, which includes a bookshop and gallery as well as information about the station, local area and Bute. And the company also played a pivotal role in helping to convert a disused space at Saltcoats Station in North Ayrshire into Shibumi Karate Club.

Teenage kicks A member of Shibumi Karate Club in Saltcoats, North Ayrshire

Working together Two of ScotRail's employees sharing a moment together

The money raised will help support services like Age Scotland’s Friendship calls, for companionship, and its Helpline, which offers advice on wider issues such as energy and legal issues, benefits and entitlements, and social care. “We are incredibly proud of everything we have achieved in partnership with Age Scotland over the past year,” says David Ross, ScotRail communications director. “Thanks to the generosity of our customers and the dedication of our staff, we have been able to help make a difference in the lives of older people across Scotland.

“We are incredibly proud of everything we have achieved in partnership with Age Scotland."

Cathy’s family travel tips

And this month is extra special as ScotRail celebrates an incredible first year of this charity partnership, when it has been working to fundraise and boost awareness and community support for Scotland’s older people. Over the last 12 months, Scotland’s Railway has contributed almost £332,000 through fundraising and in-kind contributions to help tackle loneliness, encourage social engagement and promote the importance of older people feeling valued and included in our society through a variety of initiatives.

The LNER Family Single ticket can take you from London to Durham for £86

For 2025, ScotRail and Network Rail have already planned an exciting calendar of brand new fundraising events – including Kiltwalks, abseiling the Kelpies, 5k runs and the challenge of the Edinburgh marathon and fire walks. Staff are also set to volunteer with Age Scotland’s Friendship Services, giving them the opportunity to offer real time support and companionship to older people and showing once again that ScotRail staff are right by our side, every day of the year. Your ScotRail ticket goes further than you think

ScotRail’s £4billion contribution to Scotland’s economy

ScotRail is ambitious for the communities it serves

cotRail operates thousands of train services all over Scotland every day, but every journey made is so much more than just a way of getting from A to B. Not only does Scotland’s Railway connect people with the ones they love, whether it’s long overdue catch ups with friends or travelling to visit family, the company has also teamed up with the charity Age Scotland to support its vital work.

How Age Scotland supports older people, with help from ScotRail

ScotRail’s £4billion contribution to Scotland’s economy

“We are incredibly proud of everything we have achieved in partnership with Age Scotland."