FoFNL Support for Association of Community Councils Petition

Public Petitions Committee
Scottish Parliament

PETITION PE894

Introduction

1.    Friends of the Far North Line (FoFNL) is pleased to support the petition from the Association of Caithness Community Councils calling on the Scottish Executive to consider the provision of improved rail services on the Far North Line (FNL) between Inverness and Thurso and Wick.

2.    The proposed construction of a Dornoch Link line between Tain and Golspie dates back to the early1980s and is an eminently reasonable aspiration for rail travellers from and to Caithness and coastal East Sutherland, being 26 miles shorter. A convincing business case has yet to be made.

3.    There are other improvements which might be made and we are aware that the construction of a Dornoch link might potentially jeopardise services to the existing "Lairg Loop" stations. The needs of all users and potential users must be considered.

4.    The end to end time taken by services on the line has been lengthened during 2005 by 25 minutes to give a painfully slow and uncompetitive total journey time of 4 hours 15 minutes between Wick and Inverness.

5.    The single line nature of the route, a signalling system with no room for further expansion, and an overcautious line speed through the passing loops all contribute to the extraordinarily slow service.

6.    All these factors together support the call for the Scottish Executive to identify costed options for accelerated journey times on the FNL.

Infrastructure improvement

7.    The proposed Dornoch Link has generated much discussion over the years, much of it deficient because nobody knows what the cost would be of this 15 mile link with two major bridges, a new station and passing loop at Dornoch, and probably several level crossings. If we assume the Lairg Loop were to remain open, there would be two junctions as well with associated signalling and points.

8.    It is highly desirable that an Executive study should establish a well researched indicative cost. Only then can the debate move on to judge whether construction of this line would be justified. Current "guesstimates" are too wide ranging for meaningful discussion.

9.    We are pleased to note that all parties seem to agree that under the 2006 timetable, the estimated saving in time if the Dornoch Link were built would be 40 minutes. Other time savings will depend on the amount of money available for investment in track capacity, signalling and rolling stock.

10.    Until the signalling system is improved, little time would be saved south of Tain as Wick services would have to stop at many of the stations for signalling purposes.

11.    It is important that any study should consider all stations on the line so that users of the Lairg loop stations are not made to fear for the future of their services.

Funding

12.    With the costs of major improvements to infrastructure along the line being unknown at present, FoFNL has concentrated on lobbying for important schemes within the current infrastructure which are achievable in the present financial climate. working in this way with industry partners has been a successful strategy resulting in the introduction of the new "Invernet" services between Inverness, Tain and Lairg; the introduction of all-year round Sunday services between Inverness and Wick; and in increased freight traffic. We are delighted that an additional service has been announced to commence in December 2006 operating from Wick after 08.00 to Inverness and providing new journey opportunities and better connections from Orkney. FoFNL is currently working on proposals for an additional northbound service to Wick leaving Inverness around 14.00.

13.    We have also taken the view that there is not sufficient money in the rail industry at present to ensure that a scheme like the Dornoch Link would attract funding. This view is borne out by the failure so far of the Inverness-Aberdeen line scheme to gain business case approval. Accordingly, we have lobbied Scottish Executive ministers to consider the benefits an improved FNL would supply to Caithness and coastal Sutherland if the scheme were seen as part of a regional development strategy for the north of Scotland.

14.    As well as funding from the regional development and integrated transport budgets there should be scope to attract money from Europe. The line is designated by the EU as part of the Trans European Network. If this is to mean anything, it should give potential for EU funding rather than being an EU millstone. As literally the end of the line in North West Europe, all the arguments of peripherality and sparsity of population base should permit maximum EU funding largesse to be invoked.

Conclusion

15.    Funding the FNL is a true test of the political will to overcome the short-term thinking that typifies much of government in Britain. This is a strategic line to the extremities. When oil becomes scarce or subject to price-blackmail from the producing countries (as has just happened with Russian gas), people and goods will have to rely much more on movement by rail. This is why, if the Dornoch Link is built, it will be essential to retain the Lairg Loop as well.

16.    There is no way of providing extra rail capacity in the Highlands on the cheap, but we must start the planning and providing now, so that when oil shortages come, we have the infrastructure capacity in place to reach as many places as possible by rail.

17.    The Caithness petition is asking for reasonable and appropriate rail service provision for Caithness and Sutherland. It deserves support from MSPs and the Executive.