Some of these are quite unrealistic.
It would be better to dual the A75 from Gretna to Stranraer.
Why Ullapool when there are towns like Tillicoultry, Clackmannan, Kinross, Crieff where the same £ spent would benefit vastly more people?
St Andrews and Fraserburgh I get.
Inverness to Fort William would be a sustainable key tourist route if electrified.
If you're going to build an HS line to Edinburgh and build a line to Carlisle through the borders. Maybe just build an HS line through the borders instead? With just two HS trains an hour, there'd be plenty of scope to run a "local" 125mph EMU behind each service.
I agree about Ullapool/Fort Bill to Inverness, but St Andrews makes no sense. Too much is built on at multiple points along the route, and most of the traffic will be heading to Edinburgh/Glasgow, so the line needs to head south/south west if anything.
The Borders line doesn't just connect Hawick/Langholm, it provides more capacity for more direct NW/Yorks to Edinburgh trains, using existing infrastructure (especially with through regional services from the S&C). You could also free up the WCML north of Carlisle as well by diverting existing faster Edinburgh services this way.
Indeed, it would need to be electrified but this isn't a huge barrier.
There's a few reasons why reopening something similar to the old Port Road, but much higher speed, would be sensible.
- 1) providing parkway stations for many of the small towns along the route to revitalise Galloway
2) with a route to Cairnryan and an intermodal terminal there, you could significantly reduce the volume of lorries needing to cross with their cargo (especially important in a time where there is so much paperwork and bureaucracy, in order to comply with the Windsor Framework) and potentially help relieve traffic issues on the M6/M74 as well.
3) You could operate Stranraer connections (including a Stranraer Parkway station with a shuttle bus for foot passengers using Cairnryan) via the new line and extend electric Ayr services to Girvan on the old coastal line, then convert the Girvan to Stranraer section into a heritage railway. The area has a lot of undeveloped tourist potential, and a long heritage railway would help bring tourists in. Additionally, the new connection would be a much more frequent and reliable option for nearly all D&G residents travelling into the Central Belt or south into England anyway.
I don’t get St Andrews being treated as near obvious. from a map the original trackbed looks heavily obstructed with many roads and accesses to deal with, would presumably end in a station right on the edge of the town, and has no obvious service to extend.
So I don’t see how it would be better than a bus that actually goes around the town and would likely be more frequent.
Exactly. Maybe if VLR takes off, you could operate a line that penetrates much further into the town, possibly with involvement from the local uni's engineering school too.
My understanding is that it isn't a reinstatement it is (mainly) a new route to deal with freight to Cairnryan. It would be instead of spending billions on dualling the A75.
If we are to decarbonise transport then we do have to get long distance freight onto rail (and electrify it). And if we keep investing in roads then freight operators are going to use them - just as passenger transport does.
It does also have some valid passenger potential too though.
