Aberdeen - Inverness £170m Upgrade

InOban said:

Thanks. I'm not good at posting Twitter links from my phone.

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Deltic1961 said:

Are the trains going to be using the double track or will that only take place at the December timetable change?

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Ben.A.98 said:

All trains will be using the new track as it is no longer bi-directional. Passengers won't feel the effect of being able to run more trains till the December timetable change takes place.

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Class 170101 said:

So tight working with Dyce terminators though now having to shunt from one side to the other rather than heading straight back as before. Some late starts towards berdeen look likely

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D6975 said:

That does seem like a strange decision not to put a trailing crossover in to the east of Dyce given the number of services that reverse there.

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Altnabreac said:

I suspect in the December timetable there won’t be many services reversing at Dyce any longer.

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Deltic1961 said:

I seem to remember this project having a price tag of £170m, but lately Aberdeen Journals have been quoting the project as having a cost of £300m.

Confused!

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Altnabreac said:

£170m was the price in 2014:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-26784570
£330m is the price in 2019:
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/runni...tes/scotland/aberdeen-inverness-improvements/

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Altnabreac said:

We shall see if this leads to better cost control (or perhaps more realistic costs at outset of schemes).

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Class 170101 said:

So tight working with Dyce terminators though now having to shunt from one side to the other rather than heading straight back as before. Some late starts towards berdeen look likely

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Tobbes said:

Oops.


With a near-doubling of costs (general inflation has been low), would anyone care to apportion this increase between (i) increased scope; (ii) over-optimistic initial costings; (iii) rail-specific inflation being higher than general inflation (and if so, why); (iv) other - e.g., poor cost management.

For a bonus mark, would A2I have been approved in the first place if the bill was £300m +/- 10%?

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takno said:

It's only about 50% over with inflation taken into account (although tbh I don't know if the final price is in 2014 prices or not). I'm not saying that's nothing, but IIRC it's not massively over the optimism bias that was being applied at the time.

Either way, I don't think it's a bad idea to be doing more planning and costing upfront

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takno said:

On the face of it they could still turn them in the platform given that there's a crossover on the Aberdeen side of the station. Don't know if that's the plan or not

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Ben.A.98 said:

There isn't, closest crossover to Dyce now is just before Raiths Farm.

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InOban said:

AIUI, the future service plan is for HST or other IC services from Inverness to Aberdeen, some continuing to Edinburgh or Glasgow, and a local service between Inverurie and Montrose. Therefore there won't be any trains terminating at Dyce. More useful would have been a third platform at Inverurie.

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InOban said:

AIUI, the future service plan is for HST or other IC services from Inverness to Aberdeen, some continuing to Edinburgh or Glasgow, and a local service between Inverurie and Montrose. Therefore there won't be any trains terminating at Dyce. More useful would have been a third platform at Inverurie.

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CEN60 said:

Remember there is now a facility to turnback at Inverurie (at least there will be from Tuesday)

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InOban said:

I know, but it would be better if the local service could terminate off the through tracks.

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CEN60 said:

There is now effectively back to back crossovers north of Inverurie - allowing a terminator into the new turnback & the facility to put southbound into either existing Platform from the siding or one from Huntleyetc (and given the age of the track in the non town platform, believe me you don't want to use that platform (NR didn't want to touch the track in the existing platforms as it would have driven an almost complete rebuild of both platforms) - you can also depart from the town platform south and use the new 50mph down to up crossover to get onto the up to run south. I am not sure how the service will operate in the immediate future, but the installed layout at Inverurie is quite flexible.

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Norther Monkey said:

Why would replacing the track at Inverurie require rebuilding the platforms?

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MadMac said:

Wild guess: if it’s replaced under this project, might it “trigger” needing to meet a more modern standard, whereas if it’s done as a “routine renewal” it can remain as-is?

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Deltic1961 said:

Is there a speed restriction on the new track? On the 18:06 Dyce to Aberdeen crawling along at 39mph.

Also, I noticed EE are now quoting the project as £330m. It's gone up 30 million since last week.

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Altnabreac said:

I suspect in the December timetable there won’t be many services reversing at Dyce any longer.

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Fresh plans for a “bigger and better” rail station for Inverness Airport are due to be lodged – more than a decade after the idea was first tabled.

Transport chiefs have confirmed they are in the final stages of drawing up revised designs for an enlarged station with two platforms and a double-track at Dalcross.

The move emerged as the agencies involved were accused of “dropping the ball” on the vital infrastructure project for the north, amid growing frustration at long delays.

After more than a decade on the drawing board, proposals put forward by transport partnership Hitrans for a £5 million station won planning permission in 2017 amid hopes it would finally be operational the following year.

The scheme – which included a 568ft platform and a 150-space car park – has long been viewed as vital to accommodate growing airport passenger numbers, as well as improving links to the nearby business park and the thousands of new homes being built at Tornagrain.

Forecasts predicted that within 50 years it would overtake Elgin to become the second busiest stop-off in the north, after Inverness city centre.

But construction work did not start on the project in 2017 as expected and the planning permission is now just a few months away from expiring.

The scheme was taken over by Transport Scotland and it has now confirmed that a new design is currently being completed by Network Rail.

Unlike the original proposals, which envisaged opening a first platform and then building a second a few years later, the new design will feature two platforms and double-tracking from the outset.

It is expected to be similar to the recently relocated Forres station and the new Kintore station, both of which are also being delivered as part of a major upgrade of the Inverness to Aberdeen rail line.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “The project to deliver a new station for Dalcross is progressing well and we are currently finalising our proposed design for the facility.

“The development is being expanded to deliver a bigger and better station with two platforms and a double-track railway which will mean increased capacity on the line.

“As we are expanding the development, we will require fresh planning permission.”

However, Transport Scotland and Network Rail have been unwilling to confirm an anticipated start date for work at Dalcross.


Douglas Ross, Conservative MP for Moray, said last night he had written to ministers to demand a “firm timetable”, claiming the Scottish Government had “completely dropped the ball on this vital project”.

He said: “Last year, after writing to the cabinet secretary for transport, about delays with the project and when works would begin I was told it would be delivered ‘in the very near future’.

“Here we are nearly a year later and they are still no further forward as the Scottish Government haven’t even announced a start date and there is now a danger of having to go back to the start with this project.

“It would seem that since Transport Scotland and ministers became involved this important project has slipped even further.

“The Scottish Government really needs to prioritise the north of Scotland for a change.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said the existing planning permissions were “being updated to reflect enhanced plans for Dalcross Station”.

He added: “We expect the station to be delivered in first half of the current five year rail funding period and will be a position to confirm the starting and opening dates once Network Rail has completed its feasibility work and third party funding has been secured.”

The current rail funding period runs from 2019 to 2024.

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47271 said:

Dalcross station update from today's P&J, and for anyone who's wondering what's happened to it.

www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/inverness/1825924/new-designs-for-inverness-airport-rail-station-will-be-bigger-and-better/amp/

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