The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)

Single-track stretches are derailing improvemen­ts

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Sir, – Campbell Gunn (Press and Journal, February

15) suggested many worthwhile improvemen­ts to the railway system for considerat­ion.

I was surprised he omitted to mention the lines between the cities of Aberdeen, Inverness and Perth are still predominan­tly single track. This is proving to be a major strategic constraint.

The government response to the climate change emergency is rightly to try to reduce emissions by cutting dependency on cars and transferri­ng more freight to go by rail and sea. The two rail line blockages at Carmont on the direct line south have shown how much Aberdeen needs an alternativ­e strategic rail route.

The only alternativ­e is the long way round by Inverness but this is hampered by the many stretches of single track, including the 18-mile constricti­on between Keith and Elgin. Passenger trains had to be cancelled to let the essential freight contract diversions through.

This bottleneck is preventing introducti­on of the 2008 strategic priority to introduce an hourly passenger frequency with an Aberdeen to Inverness journey time of two hours, and also the running of new freight trains for timber and whisky raw materials and products to and from Keith and Elgin. We still await priority funding.

Richard J Ardern, Drumdevan Road, Inverness.

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