Scottish trains revamp: Key points

By ALASTAIR DALTON
Published on 22/06/2012 03:17

Key measures outlined in Keith Brown’s proposals to improve Scotland’s trains

KEY MEASURES

• Significant cuts to off-peak fares to fill seats.

• More rigorous standards for train performance, to average 92.5 per cent of trains arriving within five minutes of schedule by 2019.

• Wifi across network by 2019 and smart ticketing by 2024.

• Separate Caledonian Sleeper franchise to make best use of £100m upgrade pledged by UK and Scottish governments.

• First stage of Aberdeen-Inverness line upgrade.

• 60 miles of individual tracks a year to be electrified from 2016, which is expected to include Edinburgh-Glasgow line via Shotts and Glasgow-Whifflet in Lanarkshire.

• New community rail partnerships, which have successfully helped promote lines south of the Border.

n Improved integration with other transport such as buses and ferries.

STILL ON TRACK?

• £1bn Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme: electrification will now have to be checked for compatibility with future high-speed rail. No confirmation project will be complete on time in 2016.

• £295m Borders Railway: Due to be completed in 2014 but no agreement announced with Network Rail on whether this is achievable on budget. Announcement simply said it would be delivered “during 2014-19”. The firm was handed the Edinburgh-Tweedbank project last year after a novel development process scrapped.

• Perth-Inverness line upgrade: Ministers pledged 35-minute journey time reduction in 2008. Now delayed to 2025 with only ten minutes cut by 2019.

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