ICYMI: ScotRail unable to confirm when £6 million facelift for Inverness railway station will actually happen
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Major improvements to Inverness railway station announced more than a year ago have been delayed.
A £6 million revamp of the station was first announced several years ago and it was thought the work would begin in summer 2018, with funding already in place for the first phase.
Plans for a pedestrianised frontage at Station Square had to be abandoned after the owners of the Royal Highland Hotel refused to give up their lease on several parking places there, but by December it was understood work would begin in 2019.
Now, with just three months of the year left to go, a spokesman for ScotRail has revealed both the funding and the exact scope of the work to be undertaken has yet to be agreed with industry partners.
But he insisted it was an “exciting time” for rail customers in the Highlands thanks to recent investment in the Inverness to Aberdeen line, and passengers had the Inverness station improvements to look forward to, even if he could not say when the revamp would happen.
He added: “This investment will improve the service we offer to our customers and support the local economy, while preserving the station’s history.”
Last month it was reported how ScotRail’s plans to introduce high-speed trains to Inverness have been delayed until May 2020 at the earliest, so passengers will have to endure slower, smaller trains until then.
Fraser Grieve, regional director of the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), said: “It’s clearly disappointing that on top of delays to refurbished high-speed trains and an improved timetable with additional services, we’re seeing much-needed investment in the station kicked down the track too.
“While it’s important to ensure that the redevelopment of the station is right, that should not be an excuse for it slipping down the priority list and people here facing a further wait for overdue improvements.”
Deputy Inverness Provost Bet McAllister, who is a councillor for the Inverness Central ward, said: “It would be nice to see if they could give us a timetable over when they are going to start.”
She added the delay was having a knock-on effect on other projects, such as the planned resurfacing of Academy Street, and added: “We are hoping someone higher up will investigate and find out exactly what is going on.I don’t think it will be starting any time soon.”
As well as a new glass frontage facing on to Station Square, the improvements – expected to take around a year to complete – include plans to upgrade the main station concourse, build new retail units and improve the Strothers Lane and Falcon Square entrances and improve links with the bus station at Farraline Park and the Eastgate Shopping Centre. That work had been due to start this spring.
It was also previously announced that once the work was completed, the Railway Heritage Trust would provide further funding of about £75,000 specifically to preserve the station’s historic features, including stonework currently hidden behind modern buildings at the Falcon Square entrance.
Councillor Allan Henderson, the chairman of Highland Council’s development, environment and infrastructure committee, said: “I don’t think anyone is impressed with the delay but I understand that there are funding hold-ups.
“With any major project there is anxiety, but there’s no question that it won’t go ahead. Everything is probably being checked out to the nth degree.”
