ScotRail new app issues hit the launch on Thursday when thousands of customers could not reset their passwords to get into the ScotRail New Official App or website. The failure cut straight into ticket bookings on the first day all new purchases were supposed to move to the new system.
ScotRail had told customers to use the forgotten password option when they logged in for the first time. That step is now the point of failure for the people trying to switch, which leaves them with no working path into the new booking platform.
ScotRail New Official App launch
The launch replaced the booking platform supplied by Trainline. Customers were also warned before Thursday that not all data from the old platform would move automatically, so the switch already carried a small amount of friction before the login problem appeared.
ScotRail apologised on X, saying, "We’re sorry for the delay to anyone switching their ScotRail app today." It added, "We are working with our technical teams to clear this as quickly as possible and we apologise for the inconvenience."
Old ScotRail app until midday
The fallback is narrow. ScotRail said, "Customers who are having issues can continue to use the old ScotRail app to purchase tickets until midday." That gives affected passengers a temporary route to buy tickets, but only for a limited window on the day the new system was meant to take over.
Some customers on X were already calling the rollout a shambles, which shows how quickly a login failure can turn a planned switch into a public confidence problem. The practical issue is simple: if the password reset will not complete, the new app is unusable at the exact moment customers are being pushed toward it.
Thursday morning disruption
The app failure landed on the same morning a signal fault caused separate rail disruption between Airdrie and Caldercruix. Services between Milngavie and Edinburgh were suspended, and services between Helensburgh and Edinburgh were running only between Edinburgh and Bathgate and between Helensburgh and Airdrie.
For passengers, that leaves two layers of disruption at once. They had a new ticketing system that would not let them in, and they had a network problem that was expected to last until around 10am.
What ScotRail has not pinned down is how long the password reset failure will take to clear for everyone trying to move over today.
