We need to get rail connection back on track

Scotland’s rail network does not have its troubles to seek. An industrial dispute involving drivers and an enforced switch to emergency timetabling has meant misery on the rails.

But the rail network is no stranger to upheaval.

Forty years ago the last train to Forfar arrived, bringing an end to a railway line which had served the town well for more than a century.

The benefit of hindsight is a great thing, but in this case – and with the wider Beeching reforms that cut so deep into our historic rail networks – what it shows is just how terrible

Hindsight shows how terrible the loss of a rail line can be

the loss of a rail line can be from a social and economic standpoint.

For towns of the size of Forfar not to be on the rail network map when people are being encouraged to choose less carbon-intensive forms of travel is nothing short of criminal.

Heavy investment to bring places like Forfar, Kirriemuir and St Andrews into the fold has long since been required.

But will the historic wrongs on the rail network ever be righted?

Will sizeable, strategic investment that really pushes the modernisation agenda actually ever happen?

The Scottish Government is now in charge of our national rail operator after Abellio lost its grip on the ScotRail franchise.

That provides Scotland with an opportunity to make real progress by setting aside the short-term thinking and profiteering that has so disabled our railways in the past.

The current industrial dispute – and the sky-high fares that passengers are being charged for what is a mediocre service – are not good omens if meaningful change is to happen and rail is to become the mode of transport of choice.

But it is a prize worth fighting for. Reconnecting our communities, decarbonising travel and improving lives are all consequences of a strong rail network.

Those upsides may have been lost in the short-sighted cuts of the past, but they are crystal clear now.