THE FUTURE VISION FOR RAIL SERVICES

The dream was fulfilled a 150 years ago when a group of businessmen in Inverness and the Highlands witnessed the opening of the first part of the Highland Railway from Inverness to Nairn.

Do we still have that sort of vision today?

How can we build on what has been bequeathed to us and transform the railways from Inverness into the really useful carriers of passenger and freight traffic required for the 21st century for such a dynamically expanding area?

Road congestion is with us already, oil prices are rising alarmingly and oil is a finite resource that needs to be carefully husbanded. Truck drivers' hours are being made more humane and road pricing is being talked about within ten years. With railways, in general, being kinder to the environment than road or air, it is highly desirable that the railways are significantly upgraded to play a greater part in the future transport equation.

Let's envisage an exciting future for the Inverness to Nairn line. A modest target could be a half hourly service for much of the day with new stations opened at Inverness Airport and at Seafield of Raigmore for the expanding Inverness Business and Retail Park. Here the line might share its alignment with an imaginative new frequent metro tram service which would start in the retail park and run to Inverness railway station and then possibly through the streets to Eden Court Theatre or any number of locations.

With Inverness fast developing two city centres, the most efficient way to connect the two would be by a tram system. It could perform the additional useful function of connecting the park and ride car parks which are becoming necessary in the retail park area; adjacent to the Kessock Bridge/Longman Roundabout; and on the west and south sides of the city. What is certain is that with the Inverness road system like a bicycle wheel, the spokes cannot feed ever more vehicle traffic in to the hub as the city mushrooms out in all directions.

Residents of the new town proposed for Tornagrain/Mid Coul would have the options of Dalcross Airport station park and ride. For the new town proposed on the McDermott's site at Carse of Ardersier/Delnies, another park and ride station could be built at Gollanfield on the extensive old junction site. To get this level of service will mean redoubling the tracks from Inverness out to Dalcross and maybe on to Gollanfield.

Inverness is the only city in Scotland totally dependent on single track railway lines and this is the biggest problem for the future. The present single track lines to Aberdeen, Perth and Dingwall are all near capacity during the daytime. Increased passenger and freight traffics are both in the offing as the region continues to expand.

Many years ago the strategic single track roads in the Highlands were doubled under the Crofting Counties Roads Programme. The time has now come for the same major programme of work to be carried out on the railways creating sections of double track and an increased number of passing loops.

Way back in 1994, ScotRail proposed that the capacity of the Inverness-Nairn-Aberdeen line should be greatly improved to allow a journey time of under two hours end to end (much quicker than by road) with a frequency at least hourly. This involved track and station improvements at Forres and Keith and the construction of a long "dynamic" passing loop at Orton half way between Elgin and Keith. Associated double tracking and new stations between Inverurie and Aberdeen is now moving forward on its own as the Aberdeen "Crossrail" Project. The danger is that this could reduce the prospect of extra trains through to Inverness. It does not stop us developing our own proposals for a half hourly Inverness-Nairn service with many of the trains continuing through to Elgin.

Given the dangerous state of the A96, it is a tragedy that the 1994 scheme has not progressed. There has been plenty of talk, but the Orton scheme needs recosting to produce a more realistic figure. With the advent of the A96 Corridor Study and the Moray Task Force, there is currently a golden opportunity to get workable Inverness-Nairn-Elgin-Aberdeen rail improvements on to the agenda for implementation in the not too distant future. The plans for the A96 corridor surely present one of those cases where transport infrastructure is needed at an early stage in the development. This means that the existing financial assessment models (known as STAG Appraisals) may not be the most appropriate. A degree of vision is needed here just as it was in 1855.

The rapid population growth in the Inner Moray Firth area suggests that the hourly/half hourly service on the line to Nairn and beyond should be matched with an hourly frequency of trains south from Inverness alternating to Edinburgh and Glasgow as main destination. Again, with more loops and stretches of double track, it would be quite reasonable for some of these expresses to take less than three hours to both destinations and be as quick as the car. The first step is to put back two loops to break up the remaining long single sections.

North from Inverness, the successful commuter train from Tain will be made more attractive from December with the long awaited introduction of the Invernet project. This will provide a service every two hours throughout the day between Inverness and Tain or Invergordon. Further passing loops or double track will then be needed to provide line capacity for further expansion such as a freight service to the proposed timber developments at Invergordon.

Parcels, groceries, fuel, timber and other traffic are likely to expand considerably as the region grows. Road congestion, health and safety and fuel costs are all likely to require a switch of freight from road to rail in the next decades.

The vision which connected Inverness to the railway network in 1855 needs to be mirrored in our own time to build on the assets we have and create a sustainable, economic and environmentally friendly rail system which will benefit the area and its people.