After our AGM & Conference in Dingwall in 2022 I reported in Far North Express: "Matt Powell, Head of Sponsorship at Network Rail [was] the bringer of good news as he was able to announce confirmation that detailed planning work for the new passing loop near Inverness has begun, with it being brought into use in 2024."

Since then of course a mixture of Covid aftershock, the war in Ukraine and the after-effects of the catastrophic Westminster mini-budget of September 2022 have put a large dent in Scotland's budget and ability to fund new projects. Except that the Delmore Loop is hardly new. We've been campaigning for this for an astonishing nearly 20 years - that's how long it's been obvious that it's desperately needed. We still do not know whether it will be built, because it has to pass the dreaded 'business case', where things which are clearly essential can fail to find sufficient 'monetary value' to proceed. For the A9 dualling to pass this test, a huge £420m 'driver frustration' value had to be included. We hope that a similar 'railway reputation' value can find its way into the Delmore Loop's business case.

Not that there's any disagreement about the need for the loop: Transport Scotland, ScotRail, Network Rail and ourselves are in alignment here. The reputation of the Far North Line for reliability, particularly of the current 06:18 from Wick is, by all accounts, damaging the prospect of building greater passenger numbers. People can't risk using that service for anything that is time-critical and that kind of awareness amongst the travelling public is capable of doing great harm to the idea of using the train. If I lived on the line and had an appointment in Inverness at, say 11:15, I would certainly drive - quite an admission from a dedicated rail campaigner!

This needs to be fixed. In fact, while we're thinking about such things, the Delmore Loop isn't the only one we need. On one of my trips to the northern end of the line our train became about 15 mins late during the journey, some of which could possibly have been made up later. However, our lateness meant that a decision had had to be taken to prioritise the passengers on the southbound service. This was scheduled to cross with us at Forsinard, the next passing loop, 24¼ miles away. As it would have taken us 34 minutes to get there it would have made the southbound service very late.

For people with an interest in railways and an understanding of the mechanics of trying to run services on single-track lines, this was just something to tolerate. It wasn't raining and I can think of far worse places to wander around than Helmsdale station! For people who were just using the train to get to a place at a time - which is arguably not an unreasonable plan - this will have been a major annoyance. At least one more loop is needed further north.

Two of us from FoFNL had a very friendly meeting with Fiona Hyslop MSP, just before she became Cabinet Secretary for Transport in February. She proved to be well aware of the various shortcomings of the Highland railways, the subject of our meeting. We didn't doubt that she understood exactly what we were describing, however, the best assurance which she was able to give was that plans weren't being scrapped, just delayed.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has been embarrassed by the (sometimes disingenuous) campaign by members of the public, and some of its own MSPs, into promising to dual the remaining single carriageway sections of the A9 south of Inverness at vast expense, by the most expensive method possible. Unlike the parallel railway, the A9 has no capacity issues whatsoever. We are often told that the cost of this will not affect the money being spent on rail projects in Scotland. This seems to be stretching credibility to breaking point - how can it not?

We need our MSPs to get a grip on the need for investment in Highland railways, before they fall any further behind the rest of Scotland. They're already somewhat of an embarrassment, when it's quicker to get to Paris from Edinburgh by train, than to Wick.