Fife Railway Enhancements (2 of 2)

New Services

• Edinburgh Park. Once the Edinburgh Airport line is complete, some peak hour services should be routed via Edinburgh Park to better serve the business community.
  
• Glasgow. With coal trains moved to the Stirling - Alloa line, more capacity will be available over the Forth Bridge. Is one train a day from Kirkcaldy to Glasgow all that can be justified? Changing at the new Airport Station will help however.
  

Edinburgh Enhancements

• More Through Lines. More through lines at Waverley station is the main requirement with the ability to extend trains to Leith via re-opened freight lines. Station enhancement work has now been started in 2006.
  
• More Platforms. The lack of platforms means that trains have very short turn-around times, leading to cumulative delays during the day. This needs to be tackled with more platforms. Work started in 2006.
  
• Subway Network. Of course, what Edinburgh should really be building is a modern underground train network instead of street-based trams. There could even be a line from South Edinburgh via Waverley station and Leith to Burntisland.
  

Other Enhancements

• Aberdeen Services. Why are these trains so short? Recently brand new 9-car Meridian sets, based on the Virgin Voyager trains, have become surplus to requirements in England. These are the type of trains needed on the Edinburgh and Glasgow to Aberdeen services instead of 3-car units.
  
• Cross-country Services. The number of cross-country services travelling north of Edinburgh has sadly reduced in recent years. These need to be reviewed and more services going south from Fife by both main routes, especially the west coast re-instated. In the other direction, the number of through services which are cancelled north of Edinburgh for whatever reason needs to be addressed.
  
• Train Utilisation. The train fleets serving the east coast services need to be self contained and not spread about the country. The fact that Edinburgh to Aberdeen trains are delayed due to problems in Glasgow would not be happening. This must also be avoided at the new Edinburgh Airport station.
  

Rest of Scotland

• Perth - Inverness. An hourly service to Inverness is top of the list. This line also needs to be more weather proof as it is regularly closed due to flooding. Probably requires the re-doubling of the Ladybank - Perth line as well.
  
• Borders. The Waverley line from Edinburgh to Melrose and beyond should be a high priority. Luckily it seems to be slowing moving forward.
  
• East Kilbride. Extension of this line to Hamilton will fill a missing link.
  
• Airdrie - Bathgate. An obvious route to improve access to the larger number of jobs in the east of the country. Currently being planned.
  
• Glasgow Cross City. Required as the S.E.C.C. and Airport cannot be accessed by direct train from most of Scotland, even worse from Fife. The same applies to Prestwick Airport.
  
• North Berwick - Dunbar. Maybe the only way to allow ScotRail to serve Dunbar.
  
• Why are new lines in the west, such as to Larkhall, so quick to plan and build when its takes so many years in the east. The lack of a PTE is probably the reason, which is a political decision. And guess where the HQ of the new Scottish Executive railway planners will be - in Glasgow, not where the transport problems are! Now if it were located in Fife …