Thirty years of rail delays

Dear Editor, Thirty years ago Strathclyde Regional Council brought forward proposals to provide East Kilbride with a first-class transport system (Memory Lane, January 4).

What should not be forgotten is that in the same week a regional councillor laid the last paving slab, thus completing the new bus station, the proposals included electrification of the East Kilbride rail line and new stations at Kirktonholme and adjacent to the bus station.

These proposals had the promise of financial support from the Scottish Office, Strathclyde Regional Council, East Kilbride District Council and the former Strathclyde Passenger Transport executive, in total amounting to £6.5 million, sufficient then to cover the cost.

Fast forward 10 years and the new Scottish Executive, with support from South Lanarkshire Council (SLC), promptly put the plans for the East Kilbride line on the back burner, specifically pushing these down to number 34 on their planned railway upgrades.

What we did not know then was that the Labour administration in SLC would not only not preserve a route for the new railway but would grant planning consent for new builds, blocking parts of the route.

Many will recall, of course, that they sought was to use East Kilbride as a milch cow for their planned Hamilton Ahead agenda by selling off as much public land in the town as possible.

It was good to see Linda Fabianni MSP calling for the line between Busby and East Kilbride to be twintracked all the way. I certainly support this. Hopefully, if there is a change of administration after May’s local government election the routing of the railway up to the town centre will be reinstated into the local plan as well. Harry Valentine, Hairmyres