Improve Inverness service

Reform Scotland and former Transport Minister Tom Harris are right to ask whether we want to be in a situation in 30 years’ time where it could take less time to reach London from Edinburgh (400 miles) than to reach Inverness (160 miles) - RAIL 848.

We are already approaching that kind of situation, with the new service from St Pancras to Amsterdam scheduled to take 3hrs 40mins ( RAIL 847) and the current 0941 ScotRail service from Inverness to Edinburgh taking 3hrs 43mins, and most of the other trains on that route only a few minutes less.

Reform is also right to say that the debate should focus on Scotland’s “poor rail connectivity and lack of electrification”. Reinstating a direct line from Edinburgh to Perth via Kinross and electrifying it would save 30 minutes’ journey time to Perth, and continue the HS2 effect further north than just Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Electrifying the Highland Main Line from Perth to Inverness, with its long steep gradients, would show the best and most startling journey time reductions of any in Scotland, due to the power with which electric trains can climb hills.

Around an hour could be saved in journey times from Edinburgh to Inverness, as well as a considerable amount in carbon and other emissions, if these two schemes were implemented. R J Ardern, Inverness