Minutes of Committee Meeting on 18 February 2012, Inverness

Present: John Brandon (JB), Angus Stewart (AS), Richard Ardern (RA), Iain MacDonald (IM), Gavin Sinclair (GS), Tony Jervis (TJ), Sandy Colley (SaC), Stewart Campbell (StC), David Start (DS), John Melling (JM).

(1) Apologies
Bob Barnes-Watts (BBW)

(2) Matters Arising
None

(3) 2014 Rail Consultation Response
The Committee meeting held on 21 January in Edinburgh drafted the 2014 rail consultation response. This has now been sent to Transport Scotland. FoFNL has also been invited to attend/give evidence at the Parliamentary (Infrastructure and Capital Investments) Committee in March. JB will attend.

(4) Conon Bridge
`There has been no further update on proposals to re-open this station.

(5) 2012 AGM
there had been requests from ScotRail that the date of the AGM be changed to avoid a busy period in Inverness with Rockness and the Olympic Torch visiting the city. However, owing to speaker commitments and diary arrangements it was agreed that the original AGM date would remain in place. The timings of the day were agreed at the previous meeting and have not changed. Network Rail has kindly sponsored lunch. The AGM notice will be sent out with the May newsletter. Reply slips for attendance/lunch/bus trip should be returned to GS.

(6) Tain Service
The hourly Tain service was discussed and it was agreed that we should lobby bidders for the new ScotRail franchise to include this proposal in their franchise bids.

(7) Newsletter
there was discussion as to whether advertisements should be included in the newsletter. Material for the May newsletter includes a report by Gordon Pettitt and the details of our Rail 2014 response. The new printing arrangements have worked well and should be continued for the May print. It was also agreed that there would be a price of £1.50 shown 'where sold' on the Newsletter.

(8) Membership Update
120 members have so far renewed. 17 members have repaid using the old banking order.

(9) Treasurer Update
There has been difficulty in accessing the bank accounts outside of Inverness. DS to investigate a solution to this problem. It was agreed that a donation of £82.33 (a favourite loco number) should be given to the charity, Shelter, in memory of Keith Tyler.

(10) Attendance at Other Organisations' Meetings
RA has attended meetings at Transform Scotland and attended a HITRANS class 170 refurbishment scoping meeting.

(11) AOB
The membership form requires updating with new text and a picture. To avoid northbound trains waiting time at Georgemas Junction enroute to Thurso, it was agreed that we would ask TS/FSR to make Georgemas departure times advertised 2 minutes in advance. A discussion was had about the venue for the 2013 AGM - Dunrobin Castle is the preferred choice.

(12) Next Meeting
Date of next meeting - TBC.