ScotRail tartan is being introduced as the operator looks ahead to a major 2026 across Scotland. The year will take the men’s football squad back to the World Cup finals for the first time in almost 30 years, while Glasgow will host the Commonwealth Games.

ScotRail tartan marks Scotland’s big 2026
ScotRail official tartan

The wider calendar will also feature festivals and one-off sporting occasions, giving Scotland a year with strong cultural and sporting visibility. For ScotRail, the new design links that moment with its everyday role in travel and national identity.

How the ScotRail tartan carries the railway story?

The pattern was created by Susie MacLeod, ScotRail’s chief graphic designer. In ScotRail’s official announcement, the company describes the design as rooted in the rhythm, structure, and connectivity of the rail network.

ScotRail brand colours sit at the centre of the design, with blue and white forming the main palette. Variations in tone give the pattern a sense of movement, direction, and travel.

The double white lines represent railway tracks in physical form. They also mirror the Saltire, while the linked structure points to the communities connected by Scotland’s Railway.

Official Scottish Register of Tartans approval

For the design to be listed on the official Scottish Register of Tartans, it had to meet strict requirements. That meant being a new and unique design, while also meeting the definition of tartan set out in the Scottish Register of Tartans Act 2008.

Passengers will soon start seeing the tartan across several ScotRail touchpoints. It will appear on tea and coffee cups used on hospitality trolleys, on Ticket Vending Machine screens, and inside the new intercity Class 222s.

Those Class 222s are set to replace ScotRail’s High Speed Trains. The tartan will become part of the interior livery on the new fleet, carrying the design from customer materials into the train environment itself.

Class 222s and station displays bring the design to passengers

The pattern will also appear on huge advertising billboards at major stations. ScotRail named Queen Street station in Glasgow and Haymarket in Edinburgh among the places where passengers will be able to see it.

Claire Dickie, ScotRail Commercial Director, said the operator is proud to be part of the fabric of Scotland. She pointed to its role in connecting communities, supporting major events, and helping people reach where they need to be every day.

She described the tartan as a creative celebration of that role, bringing together heritage, national identity, and the modern railway ScotRail operates. With Scotland preparing for memorable sporting and cultural moments in 2026, she said the design offers a fitting way to support and celebrate with customers and communities.

Dickie also linked the launch to ScotRail’s history and roots. She said the message “We’ll never stop supporting you, Scotland” shows that the ScotRail tartan has truly arrived.