Campaign to open Stirling-Dunfermline rail line via Alloa

There's probably some justification of opening stations at Clackmannan and Kincardine as well as the former Longannet power station site, if a significant employment base/housing is built there, but beyond that towards Dunfermline, I'm not so sure?

Campaign to open Stirling-Dunfermline rail line via Alloa​

A campaign has been launched to re-open the Stirling-Dunfermline rail line, allowing passengers from Alloa to travel to Fife.

The Bring Back the Line campaign is aiming to raise awareness and gather support for the re-opening of the line which currently is utilised by freight trains.

The campaign group launched this July and is chaired by former MSP Dr Richard Simpson and vice-chaired by Cameron Little.

Campaign secretary David Neeson lives close to the railway line in Clackmannan and told The Advertiser: "I think with the line open it will bring benefits to the local communities that are along the line and also open up opportunities for tourism.

"What we're hoping to achieve essentially is to reopen the line. So currently the line does have freight traffic and occasional tourist specials. But other than that, it's languishing and it really could be put to much greater use.

"The ultimate aim is to have the line open for passenger traffic because it's already in use, just no for passengers. If you're going between Dunfermline and Stirling, which is an intercity route, you have to go to Edinburgh and then come back to Stirling. If you want to go to Alloa, you have to go to Edinburgh first, then Stirling, then back to Alloa."

Greens MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife Mark Ruskell has previously supported the campaign. He proposed plans for the line to be in use by 2029 in a report which was revealed in 2025.

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You can find out more about the campaign group at their website: https://bringbacktheline.org

It will certainly be an easy line to reopen as it already exists, just used by the occasional freight. The hardest section will probably be at Alloa itself due to the layout.

The large elephant will be what stock they will use on a reopened line, even if just an hourly Glasgow - Dunfermline service as an extension of an Alloa, considering Alloa - Glasgow is under the wires. Will the almighty battery powered train save the day?

When was the last time freight actually used it? Every time I check it on Traksy it just is saying 'EXAM'

How much demand is there to run a rail service between Stirling and Dunfermline?

Rail isn't always the solution, although we'd all like it to be.

Carntyne said:

How much demand is there to run a rail service between Stirling and Dunfermline?

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A good question. Is this perhaps another case of 'there is a railway, therefore it must have passenger trains', a charge which might also apply to the Suburban Line in Edinburgh and the City Union in Glasgow?

Falcon1200 said:

A good question. Is this perhaps another case of 'there is a railway, therefore it must have passenger trains', a charge which might also apply to the Suburban Line in Edinburgh and the City Union in Glasgow?

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Absolutely!
The article even says the buses are failing. The solution to that isn't putting in place a more labour and finance intensive operation to move low numbers of people.

Falcon1200 said:

A good question. Is this perhaps another case of 'there is a railway, therefore it must have passenger trains', a charge which might also apply to the Suburban Line in Edinburgh and the City Union in Glasgow?

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A rail service would be useful, but whether it'd be worth the cost of reopening is debatable. Direct trains between Glasgow/Stirling and Dunfermline would certainly be well used, but to get funding it would have to be really well used. Therefore it'd have to carry a substantial proportion of the commuter traffic from towns along the corridor into Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Is it good that any new line practically needs to have high commuter traffic to get funded? Arguably no, but try convincing ScotGov or the Treasury to provide the billions needed for Tweedbank - Hawick or Okehampton - Tavistock, you'd be laughed out of the room.

First of all, there'd be no direct services to Edinburgh. That's about half the potential market gone.
Coaches can currently do Glasgow - Dunfermline bus station in about 1h 15. A well-timed transfer at Haymarket means you can do it by rail in about 1h 30.

Glasgow - Alloa takes 45 minutes at the moment, plus 2-3 mins if Tullybody or Bonnybridge reopen. Alloa-Dunfermline linespeeds are 30-35mph throughout, so for a ~17 mile route with 3-4 intermediate stops, it'd take about 35 minutes. That gives a Glasgow Queen Street - Dunfermline City journey time of around 1h 20. Note that Dunfermline City is about 15 mins out of the city centre (unlike the bus station) so there'd be a time penalty for many journeys.

It'd be the most convenient connection between the two cities but the time savings wouldn't be too big. Bus users would still take the bus, you may get some drivers switching over to taking the train though. With only about 3,000 rail journeys from Dunfermline to Glasgow last year, you'd need a lot of mode shift to justify it.

There's also the potential stations in Clackmannan, Kincardine, Longannet (redevelopment), plus probably one of Culross, Newmills & Torryburn or Cairneyhill. Immediate catchment would around 15,000, plus park & ride adding another few thousand. They'd be useful stations for the local area, and probably quite politically popular, but I doubt usage would exceed 200k/year. A reopening based on just these stations wouldn't get funding.

It's a close call I'd say. Depends a lot on how much the expected cost is. If it's close to the cost of Levenmouth then I'd support it. If it's nearer to the Northumberland line's costs then probably not. To add to the costs, you'd need BEMUs rather than 385s on the Alloa line, plus some coastal defenses around Culross as the railway really hugs the Firth of Forth.

Farigiraf said:

Depends a lot on how much the expected cost is.

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I would agree, the issues have been well described in Post#2. If Alloa was a through platform, if the current service was DMU operated, and if Scotrail had spare DMUs, extending the trains through to Fife would be relatively low cost, however none of those is the case so would potential traffic justify the cost?