Greer Highlights Millgavie Station Re-dualling Report Errors
The A81 Options Appraisal Study is part of the council’s overall Transport Options Report and considers ways to tackle traffic congestion on the A81 through Milngavie and Bearsden, including the long proposed Allander train station. It is part of the ongoing ‘STAG’ process required by Transport Scotland to justify any changes or new projects.
But despite the requirement to use the STAG process, the report, produced by consultants WSP, relies on WebTAG, a system used by the Department for Transport in England to define whether projects represent low, medium or high value for money Unlike the STAG approach, it does not consider the wider benefits a project could bring to the local transport system and community.
The report also includes a notable error in relation to the Milngavie rail line, on which it bases its conclusion that the notoriously unreliable line should not be re-dualled and the Allander station should not be built. The document incorrectly states that ‘the existing railway line runs down the centre of the rail corridor’. This is despite a report published last year by Ross Greer and written by a rail professional noting that, with the exception of one short section, the line is still in the place it was before the second track was removed. It is not in the centre of the rail corridor, meaning that a second line could be reinstalled without tearing up the existing track, at a much lower cost than is included in this report. No credit is given to the very considerable benefits that re-dualling would bring in improving the punctuality of the existing train service. It also includes costs for an extra train based on four coach trains used in Northern England, not three coach ScotRail ones.
In Ross Greer’s response to the council’s consultation he has also pointed out that the working shown in the WSP report appears to assume that the rail service will be half-hourly, despite it running every quarter of an hour for most of the day. There is no suggestion from ScotRail that this would change. This appears to be because services to Queen Street and Glasgow Central are counted as a separate service, when, in practice, most passengers can use either route.
Commenting on the report West of Scotland MSP and local resident, Ross Greer, said:
“For one of the biggest transport consultancy firms - who carry out a large amount of work in Scotland - to make such strong use of another country’s appraisal system is unacceptable. When you add the clear lack of knowledge about our local rail line, the council should be demanding their money back.
“The UK Government’s WebTAG approach is not nearly as good as what we use in Scotland and would make it far harder to get the essential local upgrades that Bearsden & Milngavie desperately need. If WebTAG had been applied in Scotland, the successful Borders Railway, which reopened in 2015, would probably never have made it to the drawing board, never mind completion. There is absolutely no way decisions should be made on the basis of this report.
“The Milngavie line is consistently one of the worst performing in Scotland and the alternative for many is a highly congested A81, particularly along Milngavie Road. I am confident that a proper reassessment would show what local residents already know, that we need a re-dualled rail line and a new station at the Allander. Everything else is just tinkering around the edges of a rail line which can barely manage one in four trains on time.”