Extra Glasgow Trains Block South Sub Plans

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 5th Apr 2008

Edinburgh South Lib Dem Westminster Spokesperson Fred Mackintosh has hit out at decisions by the Scottish Government to increase the number of trains from Edinburgh to Glasgow for blocking line capacity that could have been used to run trains on the Edinburgh South Suburban Railway to Haymarket and Waverley.

"It is a huge disappointment" said Fred Mackintosh "there was not alot of spare capacity on the rail lines west of Haymarket when the last study into the South Sub was carried out in 2004, now it looks as if that has been booked up by the SNP Transport Minister. Plans for 14 or more trains each hour from Edinburgh to Glasgow on four lines is all very impressive, but it means that again Morningside, Blackford, Newington and Cameron Toll will have to remain off the national rail network"

Press reports and a preliminary briefing by council officials suggest that a report by consultants Halcrow has come out against direct trains from the South Sub to Waverley because of new capacity constraints at Haymarket. A full report of the Consultants will be considered at the Council's Transport, Infrastructure and Environment Committee on 6th May.

As a Councillor from 1999 to 2007 Fred Mackintosh devoted a considerable effort to pushing the case for restoring passenger services to the South Sub with a series of stations along the route. In 2004 he succeeded in getting the project put back into the Local Transport Strategy.