After 12 years, ‘vital’ West Lothian railway station is still on the buffers
Winchburgh developer and council crying out for progress
It is a green transport project in one of Scotland’s fastestgrowing communities that all involved said they support – and at a time when ministers have pledged to radically cut car use.
But 12 years after it was approved in principle, progress on opening a railway station at Winchburgh on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow line has been glacially slow.
The West Lothian village has already doubled in size, with around 1,000 new homes and up to 2,000 more planned over the next 20 years. That will provide a significant potential source of rail passengers against a backdrop of the Scottish Government’s target of reducing road traffic by 20 per cent within six years to meet emissions goals.
Yet joint action has proved elusive. On the one hand, Winchburgh Developments Limited (WDL) which is spearheading the expansion is champing at the bit to get going on the station, West Lothian Council has expressed “huge concern” at the delays, and the Scottish Government agreed that everyone must work together “to ensure it can happen”, with its Transport Scotland agency “committed to playing a full part”.
But while Transport Scotland insists the station must be “developer-led”, WDL said it still hadn’t been given full details of infrastructure owner Network Rail’s assessment of the scheme to be able to submit detailed proposals. The developer also dismissed doubts about how much it was willing to contribute – it has already spent £50 million on a new access junction on the M9 and other transport
The cost is expected to be more than the £15m spend on Scotland’s newest station at East Linton
improvements – saying it can’t commit until the final designs are produced so the cost of the station is known. It is expected to be more than the £15m spend on Scotland’s newest station, which opened at East Linton in December.
The situation has been complicated by Winchburgh being in newly-appointed transport secretary Fiona Hyslop’s constituency, so oversight has been transferred to active travel minister Patrick Harvie. Transport Scotland has now explained that because of the Cabinet reshuffle on February 8, ministerial diaries were “under review” and once they were confirmed, a date for the meeting and site visit with Mr Harvie can be arranged.