Railway needs to be fit for purpose
It goes without saying at this point, but the current coronavirus restrictions are incredibly difficult.
They demand a heavy toll from all of us but the early progress in the vaccination programme reminds us that these restrictions will end and offer a much-needed source of hope.
Given that, it is incumbent on politicians to continue to look to the future and consider what our recovery from this crisis will look like.
That’s why the Scottish Greens recently launched our Rail for All report, which sets out detailed, fully-costed, proposals for the future of Scotland’s public transport network.
While we’ve been dealing with the virus the climate emergency has continued to grow. Successive governments insistence on prioritising road at the expense of all else has led to transport being one of the biggest polluters in the country.
Meanwhile, our railways have suffered decades of chronic under-investment.
To address that requires radical action, and our £22 billion investment proposals provide exactly that.
Investment in rail his historically had a positive economic impact by improving connectivity and productivity. The Scottish Government’s own models show that even £1bn invested in rail generates £1.6bn in economic output.
The boldest, but still perfectly achievable, part of our plans is a tunnel between Fife and Leith.
This would slash journey times between Edinburgh and Perth, bringing the two cities within an hour of each other. There’s no doubt the proposal is ambitious but it’s backed up by experts and the state of our railway demands ambitious solutions.
There are many other less dramatic but equally important proposals contained in report.
The line between Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee is not fit for purpose. It was in the Victorian era and remains largely unchanged since.
Sections of track around Perth have speeds dipping as low as 30-50mph. That’s simply not acceptable for a modern inter-city railway and needs significant work to bring it up to scratch.
The Highland Main Line is in a similar situation.
Again, little has changed since the age of steam. We’d invest in another 30 miles of dual track and lay the ground work for full dualling of the line. The journey time between Perth and Inverness could easily be cut to 1hr40.
We also want to build new stations in places like Newburgh and ensure that, where possible, every town in Scotland with a population of over 5000 is connected to the rail network.
Our plans are fundamentally about making rail the first and natural choice for every journey.
Whether you’re commuting, travelling for business or for leisure, we want to make taking the train easy, accessible and affordable. It’s a strange situation that some rail journeys take longer in 2021 than they did in 1901 but that’s the reality.
We know from bitter experience that the Tory approach to crisis recovery doesn’t work. You can’t cut your way to a better future.
Instead, prudent but significant investment can help build something to stand the test of time and drive us towards a sustainable future. We have the means, now we need the will.