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NEWS RELEASE
Friday 13th July 2007
Scottish rail plans:
Welcome for focus on inter-city routes
TRANSform Scotland [1] has today (Friday 13th
July 2007) welcomed the plans set out in Transport Scotland's 'Scottish
High Level Output Specification' (HLOS) published today. [2]
The report calls for electrification of the Edinburgh-Glasgow route, and
infrastructure investment to improve journey times on key inter-city routes
such as Aberdeen-Inverness, Edinburgh/Glasgow-Inverness and Edinburgh-Aberdeen.
Colin Howden, Director of TRANSform Scotland said:
"Due to the systematic under-investment of the last forty years,
journey times between Scotland's major cities have been allowed to become
uncompetitive with the car. It is therefore very welcome that the Scottish
Executive has chosen to focus on getting the Scottish inter-city rail
network up to speed.
"We have for some time been calling for a focus on the upgrading
of the Scottish inter-city network so that our cities are connected by
fast and frequent train services. So it welcome that the new Executive
is focusing on improving capacity and journey times on our key inter-city
railways.
"As well as relieving road congestion and offering substantially
safer travel, rail has significant environmental advantages over road
and air transport. Rail electrification will help to reduce Scotland's
reliance on oil, while improving our inter-city rail links will need to
form an important part of efforts to tackle climate change emissions from
transport.
"Hopefully the Executive's focus on these realistic and cost-effective
measures will knock on the head the fantasies about 'bullet trains' and
'magnetic levitation'."
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] TRANSform Scotland
TRANSform Scotland is the national sustainable transport alliance,
bringing together rail, bus and shipping operators, local authorities,
national environment and conservation groups, businesses and local transport
groups.
We can be contacted at Lamb's House, Burgess Street, Leith, Edinburgh,
EH6 6RD. Tel 0131 467 7714; fax 0131 554 8656; email <info@transformscotland.org.uk>;
web <http://www.transformscotland.org.uk>.
[2] Scottish High Level Output Specification (HLOS)
See Transport Scotland news release 'Ministers set out blueprint for Scotland's
Railways' - available at <http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/defaultpage1221cde0.aspx?pageID=107&rlID=1197>.
[3] TRANSform Scotland briefing 'Scotland's rail system: Gearing
up to drive the low-carbon economy'
In April 2007, in the run-up to the elections, TRANSform Scotland published
a paper outlining priorities for revitalising Scotland's rail network.
This is available at <http://www.transformscotland.org.uk/info/docs/2007-04-18_railways.pdf>.
END OF NEWS RELEASE
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