the high road to growth L
Scotland has seen ridership increase by more than 30% over the last decade, spurred by the reopening of lines and stations, improved services, and new trains. Transport Scotland director of rail Aidan Grisewood explains to Keith Barrow how planned investment will support further growth.
IKE the rest of Britain’s railway, the Scottish network has witnessed sustained increases in
traffic over the last decade. Passenger numbers on ScotRail services have risen by more than 30% since 2004, reaching 81.1 million journeys in 2011 and despite the challenging economic climate, forecasts anticipate sustained growth in the short and medium-term. Changes in the coal industry mean the picture is more mixed for freight, although the intermodal sector remains strong with rising volumes. The Scottish Ministers’ High Level Output Specification (HLOS), which sets out the investment programme for Network Rail’s 2014-2019 funding period assumes background growth of at least 15% in passenger-km over five years, and the figure is likely to be even higher when route-based growth from other planned investments and measures included in the new ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper franchises are taken into account.
In addition, Scotland’s transport minister Mr Keith Brown announced in December that peak fares will be capped at inflation and off-peak fares will fall in real terms in an effort to boost patronage and sustain the modal shift which has gathered momentum over the last 10 years.
The Scottish government will invest £3.3bn in rail infrastructure between 2014 and 2019, which will be allocated to infrastructure manager Network Rail through HLOS (see panel on p26). A further £1bn of government-backed investment has also been allocated to strategic network enhancements, together with financial support of around £1bn over the five-year period for regional and sleeper services. A significant project already underway is the Edinburgh - Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP), which involves electrifying and upgrading the Glasgow - Falkirk High - Edinburgh and Glasgow - Cumbernauld lines. Following the completion of a strategic review into the project last year, the Scottish government revised the specification, deferring electrification of the line from Cumbernauld to Stirling, Alloa and Dunblane, as well as the line through Falkirk Grahamston, the freight-only branch to Grangemouth, and the
IRJ April 2013 25
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