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
Scots want inter-city rail services at least as fast as roads
Published 24 February 2015 by Colin Howden
That was the finding from an opinion poll commissioned by Transform Scotland. Ninety-one per cent of those surveyed by ScotPulse wanted inter-city rail services at least as fast as the parallel roads.
We launched the opinion poll as part of the next phase of our Inter-City Express campaign. As part of the campaign, we have also published a new campaign brochure which sets out our aspirations for the Scottish inter-city network:
As part of the news release issued, our rail campaigner Paul Tetlaw said:
"This opinion poll result clearly demonstrates that the vast majority of the Scottish public wants faster trains between our cities. It is about time that the Scottish Government matched its policy commitments to Scotland's inter-city rail network with some actual investment in the infrastructure. "It is frankly embarrassing that some of our inter-city rail routes are slower than they were over a century ago. In 1895, it was possible to travel by steam train from Perth to Edinburgh in 65 minutes, but today the fastest journey takes 71 minutes. In 1895, you could get from Dundee to Edinburgh in 57 minutes but nowadays the fastest rail trip is 64 minutes."