The Scottish Government has lauched a consultation on the National Planning Framework. Projects
include Son of EARL, GARL, Grangemouth Frieght Hub, Rosyth container
Terminal, Scapa Container Hub and a rail by pass of Dunfermline.
(28.01.08)
The Office of Rail Regulation has informed Transport Scotland that it believes that the £3.6bn
made available for Network Rail in 2009-14 will be enough to cover the
ouputs in the HLOS. Savings on Tier 2 projects will facilitate Tier 3
including the Highland Main Line and Aberdeen-Inverness. For more
info click here. (20.12.07)
The EARL is dead - long live King
Gog! Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson has announced a cheaper link
to Edinburgh airport via a station at Gogar on the Fife line and a
short tram ride. Edinburgh-Glasgow trains (to be electrified)
will call at Gogar via a new Dalmeny chord. (01.10.07)
The Calmac
franchise has been awarded to, er, Calmac. The £15m bidding
process has resulted in no real change other than a separation of the
company into two- an asset owner and a service provider. (01.10.07)
Sept 19 is Car Free Day in Inverness.
Academy St in front of the station will be turfed over, and people will
be encouraged to cycle to their local train to pick up an Invernet
train. (21.08.07)
National Express, headed by ex SRA chief Richard Bowker, have won the East Coast franchise,
starting in Dec 2007, and running until Marc 2015. They will pay
£1.4bn in premiums over the life of the franchise. (21/08.07)
The Department for Transport's Rail White Paper ' Delivering a Sustainable Railway' which includes the England/Wales HLOS was published on 24/07/07. See DfT's site. (26.07.07)
Transport Scotland's HLOS-High Level Output Statement
- Scottish Ministers' blueprint for Scotland's Railways has been issued
to ORR. It sets out the requirements for spending in Network Rail's
Control Period 2009-14, including a £3.6bn SOFA-
Statement of Funds Available. It's divided into Tier 1- the current
railway with improved performance, and Tier 2- GARL, A2B and Borders
Rly. Tier 3 ' represents further outputs that Scottish
Ministers may wish to implement to respond to the requirements of the
National Transport Strategy. It is recognised thart at the time
of delivery of this specification the outputs have not been fully
developed. Funding for this implementation will be provided by Scottish
Ministers subject to affordability and the availability of resource of
capital.' Highland Main Line hourly, faster and Inverness-Aberdeen hourly feature here! (16.07.07)
ORR has decided to refer to the ROSCOs to the Competition Commission, believing
that TOCs pay higher prices and/or receivea poorer quality of service
than if competition was more effective.
Network Rail has denied that it has been in
secret discussions with Labour concerning an NR bid to gain the ScotRail franchise when the
current First franchise ends in 2011. (16.04.07)
Douglas Alexander has announced the
initiation of procurement for trains to replace the current HST fleet.
(09.03.07)
ORR has begun work on Network Rail's funding requirements
for Control Period 4 2009-14. It is provisionally suggesting
£1.95bn-£2.4bn for Scotland, compared to NR's proposed bid
for £2.41bn. The current control period is worth
£2.47bn to NR. Later this year Ministers publish their HLOS and
SoFA, before NR produces its Strategic Business Plan. (09.03.07)
Transport Minister Tavish Scott in his non-binding guidance to the DfT on
the East Coast Franchise has firmly stated the principle of
uninterrupted services to and from Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.
HRP's response- click here
(26.02.07)
HITRANS Regional
Transport Strategy consultation period has ended. NESTRANS
closes on 7 February, and TACTRAN on 16 March. For the HRP
response to HITRANS, click here. (06.02.07)
ORR is consulting on Network rail's exemption
application for the removal of TPWS
at specified permanent speed restrictions. (23.01.07)
The HRP AGM
is being held in Perth on 20 February and will feature presentations
from Mary Dickson, AMEC, Faber Maunsell on West Highland recast
work and Transport Scotland on 156/8 refurbs. (23.02.07)
The Welsh Assembly is trialling free travel for senior citizens on
the Heart of Wales and Conwy Valley lines, as these routes are in areas
where free bus travel is not very practicable. Perhaps the routes
north and west of Inverness and on the West Highlands could follow
suit. (15.12.06)
The National Transport Strategy is launched
today, along with the daughter document Scotland's Railway. Amongst the
highlights are Room for Growth endorsement, Inverness-Central
Belt hourly, Perth-Edinburgh hourly, Inverness-Aberdeen hourly and RETB
replacement . (05.12.06)
The Scottish Executive is to give all 16-18 year
olds a free railcard from jan
2007 entitling them to one third off rail fares in Scotland. (10.11.06)
Edinburgh Airport Rail Link has passed the next
hurdle with a 69-30 vote to
approve the general principles of the EARL bill. The bill was opposed
by SNP and Greens, with Conservatives abstaining. (25.10.06)
The SNP's annual conference called for substantial investment in rail
between Wick/Thurso and Edinburgh/Glasgow including the Dornoch Bridge
and Lairg loop services protected. The Kyle line was also highlighted
as requiring investment to ensure its viability. (25.10.06)
Both SNP and Conservative transport spokesmen
have questioned the Edinburgh Airport
Rail Link's viability, with Fergus Ewing claiming that it had
the potential to become 'the new Holyrood.' (26.09.06)
Arriva, First, National Express and Virgin have
been shortlisted for the new Cross-Country
franchise due in Nov 2007.
(26.09.06)
The European Commisssion has drafted a proposal
to include non-road transport in the
de minimus rules on State Aids. Financial support of up to EUR
200k over 3 years can be paid to a given company without
breaching competition regulations. This means that revenue support for
non-passenger rail operations may be possible. If accepted, the
ruling will come into force in Jan 2007. (26.09.06)
ORR's decision to approve access rights for open
access operators on the East Coast Main Line has been upheld. (31.07.06)
GNER has begun proceedings
against the Office of Rail Regulation following the granting of
access rights to Grand Central. (05.06.06)
MPs on the Transport
Committee, led by Gwyneth Dunwoody, are to examine rail
franchising. (05.06.06)
Professor Sam
Thomson, former BR Scottish Board
member, and advisor to Freightliner and EWS has died aged 84. He will
be remembered in the Highlands for suggesting that if Railtrack
wouldn't clear the Killicrankie Tunnel for containers, a pair of 37s
and some heavy wagons would do the job! (09.03.06)
The Scottish Executive is consulting on the Closure Provisions of the 2005
Railways Act. The deadline is 21 April.(14.02.06)
GNER is
attempting to garner support for its bid for increasing Leeds
services from 53 to 65 per day. ORR decided instead to grant access
to Grand Central's Sunderland-London service. The
deadline for comment to ORR is 13 February. (03.02.06)
Waverley
31.01.06
The Office of Rail Regulation predicts a decrease in NR funding in the next funding
period 2009-14, from the current Control Period (04-09)
£4.5bn down to £3.4 - 4bn. (19.01.6)
The Scotland
Planning Assessment Part 1 is now available on the
Scottish Executive website. (5.12.05)
The Executive is to consult on rail priorities, as part of its National
Transport Strategy. Written submissions are due by 28 December.
(24.10.05)
The transfer of rail powers to the Scottish
Executive and with it a dowry of
£360m has finally taken place. (24.10.05)
The Highland Council has unveiled its Inner Moray Firth Ports and Sites Strategy,
which has numerous references to rail development. (24.10.05)
The DfT has confirmed that the Cross Country franchise, currently
held by Virgin, will continue after 2007 in an expanded form, with some
Central Trains routes being added. (24.10.05)
HRH Princess
Anne will be addressing The Institute of Transport
Administration's Seminar in Inverness on 3 November. (24.10.05)
Transport Minister has refused to sanction dualling of the A9 between Inverness
and Perth.
Westrans/SPT have unveiled transport
strategy for the West of Scotland that includes new stations and Kilmacolm reopening. (11.09.05)
Scotland's new Transport Agency is to be
based at Buchanan House in Glasgow. (01.09.05)
The EC has ruled that Calmac services will have
to be tendered to comply with
Community law, which insists that public service contracts be warded
through open, fair and non-discriminatory procedures.
V Ships, Irish Continental Ferries and Calmac
have been shortlisted for the new
Northlink franchise starting in
April 2006. (03.08.05)
Transport Minister Tavish Scott has proposed
setting up separate
Highlands of Scotland and Islands of Scotland RegionalTransport Partnerships in place of
the existing HITRANS voluntary partnership. (03.08.05)
James King,
formerly of the RPC Scotland, has
been nominated to the new GB wide Rail Passengers Council by the
Scottish Executive. (03.08.05)
Transport Minister Tavish Scott has stated that
many of SPT's rail responsibilities
will pass to WESTRANS, including
the management and monitoring of the rail franchise. The Scottish
Executive becomes the sole signatory to the franchise.
David Begg has joined the board of FirstGroup. He has resigned from
GMPTE, but remains on the TfL board.
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee
has questioned NR's finances, saying that despite savings, the overall
cost of borrowing was still higher than
public sector financing, meaning that the taxpayer are providing cover
for private lenders to no obvious public advantage.
The Office of Rail Regulation has established
that 11.2% of Network Rail's asset
base should be apportioned to Scotland. When the provisional
deal was signed between DfT and Scottish Executive it was assumed
to be 10%.
The new Scottish Transport Minister is Tavish Scott (Shetland),
replacing Nicol Stephen who has been elected Lib
Dem leader.
The SRA has asked for bidders for the Greater
Western franchise to include the Paddington-Plymouth/Penzance sleepers
as a priced option, deeming the
existing operation to be poor value for
money.
HIE Chairman Willy Roe has called for 10% of the Executive's transport spend
to be invested in the Highlands and Islands. Based on population,
that's £300m over 10 years.
Malcolm Reed, head of SPT, is to become the
Chief Executive of the National
Transport Agency. It will be responsible for supporting the
delivery of the Executive's £3bn programme of transport
investment.
The Scottish Executive has appointed consultants
Ove Arup to undertake the Scottish
Planning Assessment which will consider future demand and
potential developments.
In the dying days of the parliament the Railways Act 2005 was given Royal
assent, paving the way for the winding up of the SRA, greater
government control over Network Rail's income, and further devolution
of powers to Scotland.
The new Scottish
Executive Rail Teams have been announced. Rail Strategy and
Investment will be headed by Janet Edgell, Rail delivery and
Performance by David Binnie and Public Transport Major Infrastructure
by Damain Sharp.
The Scottish Executive
will publish its
high level output specification and provisional budget in late 2006, in
order to assist ORR with its next access
charge review, which take effect in
2009.
TheScottish Executivehas
been handed control of the network
in a £326m deal. It takes over responsibility for
determining stategy, specifying infrastructure requirements, and
assumes
sole responsibility for
the First ScotRail franchise. The sum is likely to be annual until the
end of the control period, and bridges the gap between NR Scottish
income from track access etc (£c200m) and NR Scottish
expenditure. The first £150m phase of Waverley
redevelopment is now able to proceed.
The Scottish Transport
Agency is to be based
in Glasgow. Ut will be up and running by the end of 2005, and will
employ 200 staff. The agency will be responsible for delivering the
Executive's £3b ten year programme of transport improvements. For
more information see
www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2005/01/13095141
Transport Minister Nichol
Stephen told the Holyrood parliament that deliverability is the biggest
challenge
