The Friends of the Far North Line
Cairdean Na Loine Tuath
the campaign group for rail north of
Inverness - lobbying for improved services for the local user, tourist and freight
operator
Our 2024 AGM & Conference took place on Saturday 22 June at the Crown Church in Inverness. The venue was not the one we'd planned to use, which turned out at the last minute to cost more than three times our usual outlay. With great good fortune Richard Ardern suggested that the Crown Church would have everything we needed. In the event it turned out to be one of the best venues we've used and we will no doubt return when our rotation system brings us to Inverness again.
It was particularly good that attendees were able to be served lunch in the conference hall, as it was set out with tables all day. The church volunteers who provided lunch excelled themselves with lovely soup and sandwiches and hot drinks available before, during and afterwards.
The AGM which began proceedings covered the routine business side of FoFNL. We were disappointed that Chris Lewcock, who we had recently co-opted onto the FoFNL Committee, decided not to stand because of other commitments. Chris brought useful knowledge of local government and was a great help in the short time he was on the committee.
We were as fortunate with our conference speakers as we were with the venue. However, we had to begin without the usual welcome from our president as Jamie Stone was not an MP on that day, due to the forthcoming General Election, and felt that respecting the 'purdah', or "pre-election period of sensitivity", meant he perhaps shouldn't address us.
Our first speaker was Robert Gardner, Associate Director - Digital Connectivity at the Scottish Futures Trust. He brought us the wonderful news that a trial of high-speed broadband on six of our FNL trains will begin in the Autumn. This will be nothing less than transformational as the data speed will be much faster than most Highland residents are able to receive at home, and many times faster than the patchy service offered by most trains using the mobile phone network.
Our next speaker was Anthony Smith, erstwhile Chief Executive of Transport Focus, who moved on from there after nearly 25 years. He gave us a most enjoyable survey of seeing the railway from the passengers' point of view.
After lunch we were entertained by stories from Roger French OBE. Roger was the Managing Director of Brighton & Hove Buses for many years and now spends his time travelling around the country by bus and train as a kind of 'mystery shopper' looking at successes, failures and everything between. One of Roger's stories involved one of our members, who was sitting right at the front. Rather than recount it here I'll point you to Roger's blog...
The conference closed with updates from Mark Ilderton, ScotRail's Interim Service Delivery Director and Frank Roach of HITRANS.
Total 32 members - recorded separately.
14 apologies received - recorded with sederunt.
1 Welcome
Ian Budd, Convener, welcomed members to Inverness for the AGM.
2 AGM Minutes
The Minutes of the previous AGM, held in Helmsdale on 23 June 2023, had been circulated. No objections or amendments had been received.
Adoption of AGM 2023 Minutes:
Proposer: John Brandon
Seconder: Iain MacDonald
3 Reports
Reports by Convener, Membership Secretary and Treasurer had been circulated in advance of the meeting. No questions were received.
Ian Budd outlined his annual report which will also be featured in the FNE.
Membership figures were stable at around 260 members.
David Start explained the current issues relevant to the accounts.
It was requested that all members provide email addresses where possible.
Adoption of accounts:
Proposer: Malcolm Wood
Seconder: Mike Willmot
4 Election of Officers
Convener - Ian Budd
Proposer: Ian Watson
Seconder: John Brandon
Secretary - Neil Wallace
Proposer: Ian Budd
Seconder: David Start
Treasurer - David Start
Proposer: Iain MacDonald
Seconder: Mike Willmot
Membership Secretary - Angus Stewart
Proposer: John Brandon
Seconder: Les Turner
Newsletter Editor - Ian Budd
Proposer: Richard Ardern
Seconder: David Start
5 Election of Committee
Iain MacDonald
Proposer: David Start, Seconder: Mike Willmot
Richard Mansfield
Proposer: Ian Budd, Seconder: Neil Wallace
Les Turner
Proposer: Richard Ardern, Seconder: Sandy Colley
Malcolm Wood
Proposer: Ian Budd, Seconder: David Start
6 AOB
Grateful thanks were expressed to retiring committee member Richard Ardern, who was standing down after 25 years of activity on the committee, including in key roles. Ian Budd presented Richard with a book in recognition of his long service to FoFNL.
Neil Wallace presented Ian Budd with a book Completing the Far North Line to mark his 10-year anniversary as Editor of Far North Express.
The meeting closed at 11:35 after some general discussion.
Starting to write this year's report brought a slightly depressing feeling of déja vu, since in most ways little has changed on the Far North Line since this time last year.
It's now 19 years since the major temporary slowdown occurred on the line when 25 mins was added to the journey times to combat late running and to meet new safety standards. That prompted the beginning of our campaign to build a loop on the erstwhile double track section of railway near Inverness in order to prevent slightly late southbound trains having to be held at Muir of Ord until a couple of northbound departures have cleared. Given that there is no land purchase required, just two sets of points, a length of track, probable realignment of the existing line, stabilising of the ground, and adjustments to the signalling system, one would have thought it quite a minor project and a no-brainer. But that's not how railways work these days. It seems that the output of strategic project reviews, feasibility studies and reports has become the primary objective of government, with actually building things trailing reluctantly behind.
In 1874 the Sutherland & Caithness Railway reached Thurso and Wick with 67 route miles being completed in exactly three years. 150 years later it's taken 19 years so far to persuade the Scottish Government to build a few hundred metres of desperately needed track, and once agreed it'll probably take many months to be completed. At this moment there is still no news of progress.
It's easy to imagine what Victorian railway builders would have made of the idea of spending several years and millions of pounds in drawing up enormous 'strategic reviews'.
The Far North Line has been host to an extraordinary story in recent months. As you know, Altnabreac Station is currently closed because the station house owners do not wish to allow Network Rail, ScotRail or Telent staff access to the platform. Matters came to a head with threats of violence towards workers and eventually some criminal damage to equipment which has resulted in the house residents being charged with "trespassing in dangerous proximity to a Network Rail track; maliciously interfering with the running of the railway and bringing trains to a halt; obstructing British Transport Police officers in the execution of their duty and behaving in a threatening or abusive manner."
The couple could best be described as 'colourful characters' with surprising and interesting histories. There is currently no news from ScotRail or Network Rail about the station reopening. It is to be hoped that ScotRail turns the sensational notoriety the station has gained to its marketing advantage when it is reopened, and that its fame kindles increased awareness of the wonderful facility of there being a station in such a remote and otherwise inaccessible part of Scotland.
Reliability continues to be a major issue on the Far North Line, with many trains being cancelled or running very late. We are assured that the timetable which commenced on 2 June will help to address the staffing problems but the reliability of the Class 158s is likely only to get worse as time passes.
We have collaborated with our colleagues in the Scottish Association for Public Transport in assembling a list of specifications which we believe are essential for the trains which will replace the ageing units. We have a meeting set up in July with the Head of New Fleet Procurement & Delivery at Transport Scotland, along with Jon Newton, Head of New Fleet Procurement & Delivery at Scottish Rail Holdings. We don't yet know anything of a timescale for replacing our trains, but it seems to be becoming urgent. Unfortunately, 'urgency' may not be enough to trigger rapid action - and trains take time to construct.
Representatives from FoFNL, Network Rail and ScotRail are currently working with the marketing experts in Strathclyde University to survey residents who live within reach of using the Far North Line, but currently choose not to, to ascertain their reasons and to identify changes which could be made to convince them otherwise.
This project was initiated, and is part-funded, by us. Both NR and SR are extremely keen on the idea as it covers an area of data they don't have - it's comparatively easy to survey those that do use the railway but this is a different approach.
There is one glimmer of good news which should eventually reach the Far North Line: West Fraser is in the process of submitting a planning application for its freight terminal to link with the siding which Network Rail installed as part of the Inverness Airport works.
Presumably, once this is built, WF will look to using it for incoming timber as well as outgoing finished product. It's extraordinary that the lack of suitable timber wagons is the current reason for keeping the potential Altnabreac rail traffic on the roads. One can't help wondering how hard they've looked - especially in the light of recent news that a fleet of 12 Dutch registered timber/pipe wagons has been leased by GB Railfreight to use as translator wagons for moving new Piccadilly Line trains from the Siemens factory at Goole.
The past year has seen FoFNL working as usual - organising meetings with railway industry officials, attending functions and meetings with other organisations, writing countless emails and having letters published in the press.
Complimentary copies of our magazine are sent to over a hundred people with influence in Scottish railways and we know it is well regarded and widely read. This year we were particularly delighted to read tweets from Alex Hynes after his departure from Scotland's Railway who said on receipt of the May edition, "Required reading on the train", which was followed up by Roger Ford of Modern Railways magazine, perhaps the most respected of rail industry commentators, who said, "One of my favourite publications. Always an enjoyable and informative read."
I'd like to publicly thank my committee colleague Richard Ardern, who not only makes frequent contributions to the magazine, but also does a forensic proofreading, without which there would be an embarrassment of errors and unclear wording!
Let's hope the 2025 Convener's Report has more encouraging news than this one!