4 March 2013
Borders Railway the wrong target for scrutiny
In response to The Herald's 02/03/13 story
'Warning £350m rail link no economically viable', Transform Scotland's rail campaigner Paul Tetlaw writes:
Dear Sir:
Your correspondent Robbie Dinwoodie is quite right to challenge the economic viability of big transport projects but unfortunately he has the wrong target with the Borders Railway.
Railway projects in Scotland have constantly outperformed initial projections for passenger numbers; The Larkhall line was performing 53% ahead of projections in just two years while the Alloa line had passenger numbers almost 300% ahead of forecast within 3 years of opening. Indeed this is the trend across the UK where passenger numbers on railways at 1.4 billion per annum are at their highest level since the 2nd World War.
In contrast car mileage is in decline and yet the Scottish Government continues to pour billions into new road schemes. This is against a background of demanding climate change targets which are not being met and a future where oil supplies will become more expensive and scarce until they become exhausted.
A more appropriate target to challenge might be the second Forth Road Bridge which we all now understand is not necessary as the existing bridge has been shown to be safe for many years to come - why no call for this massive project to be halted?
Paul Tetlaw
Board Member
Transform Scotland