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Scottish Infrastructure


jamamafegan

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8 hours ago, tamthebam said:

We used to have a fairly extensive suburban rail network in Edinburgh, not quite as big as Glasgow's but big enough. For example there was a station near where Ainslie Park is now.

Beeching did for most of it. Glasgow kept things like the Cathcart line because it voted Labour while we were stupid enough to vote Tory (serves us right I know). 

Most of Edinburgh's old lines are now cycle tracks. The South sub survives as a goods line and is sometimes pressed into service when there's rail works between Haymarket and Waverley.

People tend to forget that Edinburgh also had a tram network in that era:

tumblr_odf0owz6TW1r54c4oo1_1280-1024x102

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11 hours ago, tamthebam said:

We used to have a fairly extensive suburban rail network in Edinburgh, not quite as big as Glasgow's but big enough. For example there was a station near where Ainslie Park is now.

Beeching did for most of it. Glasgow kept things like the Cathcart line because it voted Labour while we were stupid enough to vote Tory (serves us right I know). 

Most of Edinburgh's old lines are now cycle tracks. The South sub survives as a goods line and is sometimes pressed into service when there's rail works between Haymarket and Waverley.

I think the land of these cycle paths is still owned by Network Rail (their sign was on the fence to an entrance of one when I lived in Edinburgh).  Wonder if they have any long term plans for them.  Could they even be turned into tram routes?  Surely that'd be pretty straight forward and wouldn't cause as much disruption as digging up proper streets.

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27 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

I think the land of these cycle paths is still owned by Network Rail (their sign was on the fence to an entrance of one when I lived in Edinburgh).  Wonder if they have any long term plans for them.  Could they even be turned into tram routes?  Surely that'd be pretty straight forward and wouldn't cause as much disruption as digging up proper streets.

The old alignment from close to Haymarket to Granton was in the original tram plans and will probably get used for that eventually after the Newhaven extension is completed.

tram-map.jpg

The South Sub and most of the Leith lines were always primarily about freight rather than passengers unlike the Cathcart circle in Glasgow that was mainly aimed at suburban passenger traffic.

In Edinburgh, buses actually did make more sense in the Beeching era, but with the benefit of hindsight 50+ years on it would have been better for us in the present day if they had kept and modernised the tram network like many continental European cities did.

Edited by LongTimeLurker
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Was just reading there that in January last year, HI Trans outlined proposals for three new stations in Inverness - Seafield, Stratton Farm and Beachwood.  As I said earlier in the thread, Beachwood would be very well used (the proposal puts the station next to the UHI accommodation).  Not sure how much traffic Stratton Farm and Seafield would get though.  The Seafield station would be pretty much down from the retail park.

Edited by Highland Capital
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57 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

I think the land of these cycle paths is still owned by Network Rail (their sign was on the fence to an entrance of one when I lived in Edinburgh).  Wonder if they have any long term plans for them.  Could they even be turned into tram routes?  Surely that'd be pretty straight forward and wouldn't cause as much disruption as digging up proper streets.

That's what they did in Manchester when they reintroduced trams.

It's far too sensible an idea though and will upset the cycling lobby.

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4 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

Was just reading there that in January last year, HI Trans outlined proposals for three new stations in Inverness - Seafield, Stratton Farm and Beachwood.  As I said earlier in the thread, Beachwood would be very well used (the proposal puts the station next to the UHI accommodation).  Not sure how much traffic Stratton Farm and Seafield would get though.  The Seafield station would be pretty much down from the retail park.

Quote

Rail lines connecting to Aberdeen and Perth pass through the Brief area and offer an
opportunity for a new, local rail halt to serve residents wishing to travel to the city centre and
beyond but also commuters, shoppers and other visitors wishing to visit destinations within
the Brief area. Over the next 10 years, both the Perth and Aberdeen lines are scheduled for
major investment in line capacity and timetabling of services and therefore this an opportune
time for a local connection to the rail network.

 However, there are financial, physical and technical challenges to establishing a new rail halt
within the Brief area. The Highland Council is working with The Highlands and Islands Regional
Transport Partnership (HITRANS) to further investigate the feasibility of a rail halt at Seafield,
the Campus or Stratton. This feasibility will assess: market demand for the facility; technical
issues such as signalling, line curvature and gradient; the likely degree of support from funding
agencies and rail operators, and; an indicative cost for the facility. This work will require to
be informed by a wider appraisal based on the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance.

https://www.highland.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/19287/inverness_east_development_brief_submission_to_ministers.pdf

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  • 2 weeks later...

Scottish Government have announced this morning that they're awarding £4m to the Highland Council to reintroduce the PSO for Wick Airport.

Big news. Will likely be given to Loganair, and will likely mean the return of the Wick - Edinburgh flight, and the introduction of a new Inverness - Wick - Kirkwall flight to replace the Wick - Aberdeen one that Eastern Airways were running.

Full credit to Gail Ross, Jamie Stone and all the lads for pushing this through.

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I posted earlier in the thread about re-doubling large parts of the Highland Main Line.  Apparently a couple of years ago, Scotrail looked into running an express service between Inverness and the central belt (which I assume would only stop at Perth and maybe Aviemore) but this isn't possible at the moment because it would back-up into other services.  An express service between Inverness and Edinburgh/Glasgow would take three hours max - if that.

There's talk as well of Norbord wanting to run lumber trains to take lorries off the road.  Both would be much more doable with a redoubling of the Highland Main Line.

Edited by Highland Capital
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On 24/01/2021 at 12:21, tamthebam said:

That's what they did in Manchester when they reintroduced trams.

It's far too sensible an idea though and will upset the cycling lobby.

It really wouldn't.

What the "cycling lobby" wants is segregated lanes alongside main roads. The North Edinburgh Path Network is good for what it is, but most folk, especially women, find it too scary after dark. You're in conflict with walkers and dog walkers all the time. That's not what the Dutch do.

 

There's a little concrete base spur for the tram line on the bridge above Russel Road - what's interesting is that it points between the airport and the Granton direction, rather than Haymarket and Granton. That suggests they intend(ed?) to link Granton to Edinburgh Park/ the airport rather than it just being a northern circle, which would be great.

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48 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

I posted earlier in the thread about re-doubling large parts of the Highland Main Line.  Apparently a couple of years ago, Scotrail looked into running an express service between Inverness and the central belt (which I assume would only stop at Perth and maybe Aviemore) but this isn't possible at the moment because it would back-up into other services.  An express service between Inverness and Edinburgh/Glasgow would take three hours max - if that.

There's talk as well of Norbord wanting to run lumber trains to take lorries off the road.  Both would be much more doable with a redoubling of the Highland Main Line.

It would be costly, but you're right. It's worth doing.

f**k being the guy who has to build it though. You've to climb both Drumochter and the Slochd.

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On 21/01/2021 at 01:57, GordonS said:

I don't think most Europeans regard graffiti as being as unsightly as we do. And I'd take graffiti over litter any day. 

You’ll struggle to find anywhere as clean and organised as Switzerland but most train stations, bridges, tunnels etc are covered in graffiti. They seem to accept it as being better there than in town/city centers.

ETA: The rail network here is generally outstanding, but prices can be eye watering if you don’t know what you are doing. Standard return from where I am to Bern(35 minute journey) would be about 70chf, but going to Basel(45 minute journey) would be about 50chf. If you live here you can pay a couple of hundred francs for a “halbtax”, which from memory is valid for 3 years and as the name suggests, gets you half price travel on all journeys in the country. You also have the option of a GA/SwissPass, which costs about 300 a month and covers you for unlimited travel on the trains and busses across the country.

Find it astonishing that a zonecard in Glasgow is about the same per month if you want full coverage.

Edited by Ross.
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53 minutes ago, GordonS said:

It really wouldn't.

What the "cycling lobby" wants is segregated lanes alongside main roads. The North Edinburgh Path Network is good for what it is, but most folk, especially women, find it too scary after dark. You're in conflict with walkers and dog walkers all the time. That's not what the Dutch do.

 

There's a little concrete base spur for the tram line on the bridge above Russel Road - what's interesting is that it points between the airport and the Granton direction, rather than Haymarket and Granton. That suggests they intend(ed?) to link Granton to Edinburgh Park/ the airport rather than it just being a northern circle, which would be great.

The cycle path I was referring to earlier in the thread was just off Slateford Road.  I suppose the trickiest part would be connecting but perhaps it would be possible to extend the tram line up Lothian Road, turn onto Fountainbridge and then somehow connect onto the cycle path from there just after Fountain Park.  Going by Google Maps, the only way they could really do this is having the tram go down Dundee Terrace which is pretty narrow but not impossible.  

46 minutes ago, G51 said:

It would be costly, but you're right. It's worth doing.

f**k being the guy who has to build it though. You've to climb both Drumochter and the Slochd.

I think most of Drumochter is double track (it becomes double track onwards just past Dalwhinnie Distillery).  Google Street View makes much of the Slochd look like a tough squeeze.

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26 minutes ago, Highland Capital said:

...I think most of Drumochter is double track (it becomes double track onwards just past Dalwhinnie Distillery).  Google Street View makes much of the Slochd look like a tough squeeze.

The main line was originally Aviemore -> Grantown-on-Spey -> Forres -> Inverness, so the Aviemore -> Inverness portion may have been built to lower standards as a single track line.

Edited by LongTimeLurker
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2 minutes ago, LongTimeLurker said:

The main line was originally Aviemore -> Grantown-on-Spey -> Forres -> Inverness, so the Aviemore -> Inverness portion was probably built to lower standards as a local single track line.

That is true, but larger parts of the Inverness -> Aviemore line was double tracked previously.  As you can see here from the Culloden Viaduct - 

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?v=923

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