Railway bosses urged to deliver long-promised station at Inverness Airport
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FED-UP campaigners are calling for transport bosses to get on with rail expansion plans which have been in the pipeline for the past 15 years.
Plans for a new railway station close to Inverness Airport are facing yet more delays after a decision to expand it to include two platforms rather than one, as originally planned.
A new passing loop is also to be created at Dalcross.
The expanded project will provide greater capacity for passengers and freight, but also means it needs to be reclassified as a major planning application which will require revised impact assessments and new permission.
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP David Stewart has written to the Scottish Government, saying people’s patience is being tried and has asked for a clear timetable for exactly when work can be expected to be done.
“These plans have been in the development stages for some 15 years now. While I strongly welcome the plan to deliver a bigger station, this sweetener is the least people in the Highlands deserve for having to wait so long for what will be a vital transport infrastructure project that better connects people to the railway so they can stop using their cars and do their bit to limit the looming climate change catastrophe,” he said.
Richard Ardern, of the Friends of the Far North Line rail improvement campaign group, said the project needed to advance more quickly.
He said the new passing loop could enable an 8am eastbound service from Inverness, for example, to be added to existing departures at 7.14am and 9am, allowing more workers to travel by rail to Nairn, Forres and Elgin.
“We have been expecting to see a planning application,” he said.
“As with all these things, it takes so long.”
Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (Hitrans), which initially developed the £5 million project, was granted planning permission in 2017 for a single platform station with a car park.
While a second platform had been envisaged as a longer-term aim for the project, Transport Scotland decided to provide greater capacity at the outset when it took charge to close a funding gap.
Frank Roach, HiTrans partnership manager, said additional Inverness to Elgin services had been introduced in December 2018 but a full hourly off-peak service could not be introduced until there was more capacity.
“While the delay is unfortunate, we hope to see the station, which is fully funded by Transport Scotland, open in the next two years along with the additional section of double track which will help towards the prize of trains to Aberdeen every hour, in under two hours,” he said.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said Network Rail was carrying out a feasibility study and the project was expected to be completed in the first half of its current funding period, which runs from 2019 to 2024.
“Transport Scotland will be in a position to confirm the starting and opening dates once Network Rail has completed its feasibility work and third-party funding has been secured,” he said.
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