SCOTLAND’S Transport Minister is coming under pressure to back plans to enhance rail services in Tayside.
Plans have been in motion for a number of years to introduce an hourly stopping service between Arbroath and Glasgow.
The service would call at Carnoustie, Monifieth, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Invergowrie (Dundee West) and Perth in this area, and complement existing intercity services that pass through the area.
This would represent a significant improvement in the rail provision currently on offer in and around Dundee.
But now, bosses at Tactran — the region’s transport strategy group — are seeking a meeting with politicians at Holyrood amid fears the proposals could be scrapped. They say that the new service was not included in the new ScotRail franchise with Dutch firm Abellio, even though a number of other proposed enhancements were.
They’re now seeking a meeting with the Transport Minister Derek Mackay in a bid to put the case across for the new service.
In a letter to Mr Mackay, Dundee councillor Will Dawson — who is chairman of Tactran — said: “We continue to experience growth in demand and pressure on capacity for rail travel to, from and between the three cities (Dundee, Perth and Stirling) in the Tractran region and their respective catchments.
“You refer to Abellio ScotRail’s rolling stock strategy delivering a 23% increase in seated capacity by 2019 and state that there is no budget provision within franchise funding to lease more trains to operate new services, yet we have been advised that the ScotRail/Network Rail Alliance’s strategy aims to increase rail patronage by 40% during the life of the franchise.”
He added that the new Tayside service could be introduced at “relatively low cost”.
Mr Mackay says he’s unable to meet with Tactran in the near future but insists his Government is committed to investing in connecting Scotland’s seven main cities.
He says a roll-out of electric services will benefit inter-city travel and that a new route study, to be published soon, will consider the “demands on the network in Scotland to 2043 and the types of interventions that might be required to realise that demand”.