Edinburgh Airport

[tbtc]

I hear there have been mutterings about a High Speed line between Edinburgh and Glagow, to me that is just daft.

The whole point of high speed rail apart from capacity is distance. A high speed link would only work in Scotland if it included Aberdeen in my view.

As a stand alone scheme it would be daft. As first phase of Scotland to England HSR it makes sense.

If it's billed as being part of the same "network" as HS2 then it becomes a UK project, so part of the same "national" funding as the London - Birmingham - Leeds/ Manchester railway (so no "Barnett").

Upgrade the line from Edinburgh to Glasgow otherwise and Holyrood has to pay for it out of the "Scottish" purse - call it an extension of HS2 years before the bit north of Manchester (or Leeds) gets built and you can get Westminster to pay for it.

 

[reb0118]

The 1 will still get all the people from Stenhouse going to the football at Easter Road.

Eh? :roll: Hobos in Stenhouse? I don't think so as that's Heart's territory laddie & don't you forget it!

To be fair though a few Jambos will get it when the derby is at the other place. When I stayed in D'Mains the number 1 was my bus of choice to Tynecastle. My mate (who was dropped on the heid as a bairn) used to get it the following Saturday in the wrong direction to the other place.

This was when 1) LRT ran circular services, 2) They were numbered the same in both directions outer & inner, and 3) football was played at 3pm on a Saturday.

The world was simpler then (most of it was still pink on the map too!).

Hmm like England protected her borders and Ulster's borders during the height of the troubles?
Don't think so..

Clearly Scotland and the principality didn't help much either.

Please explain.

It is not the role of England to protect and control the United Kingdom border. It is the role of the United Kingdom. England and the UK are not the same thing. Some folk don't get this after 300 years and they wonder why some Scots want independence.

 

[90019]

Eh? :roll: Hobos in Stenhouse? I don't think so as that's Heart's territory laddie & don't you forget it!

I'm only going on my experiences of driving the 1 when the football is on at Easter Road.

(Incidentally, something I hate doing. Thankfully managed to avoid it at Gorgie so far)

 

[reb0118]

Hobos have a nasty habit of popping up all over the place. For some reason they attract a lot of celebrity support. Had one on my train yesterday. Nice chap though he said thankyou when alighting at Fauldhouse.

With regard to the trams - what would be the nearest stop to Tynecastle? Possibly Murrayfield? York Place for Easter Road but it would be a bit of a hike from there.

I wonder if there will be integrated rail/tram ticketing too?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

It is not the role of England to protect and control the United Kingdom border. It is the role of the United Kingdom. England and the UK are not the same thing. Some folk don't get this after 300 years and they wonder why some Scots want independence.

I find that the biggest error that "some folk" make is in imaginging that England has a government. I think that mistake might be the only misconception that is still widely held from the Shakespearian era.

Returning to the subject of the thread, I do find it frustrating that the Government (that is the Scottish one) hasn't found it appropriate to make the very modest connections between the airport terminals and the very nearby railways which already exist at Abbotsinch (Glasgow), Turnhouse (Edinburgh) and Dalcross (Inverness), each of which would greatly impact on the proportion of journeys by road to those airports.

I find the evidence from Stansted, Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle, Heathrow and elsewhere is that rail connections to airports are extremely popular. With as many trains passing the end of the main runway at Edinburgh as there are planes landing on that runway, it is perverse not to connect the two.

 

[Gwenllian2001]

It is not the role of England to protect and control the United Kingdom border. It is the role of the United Kingdom. England and the UK are not the same thing. Some folk don't get this after 300 years and they wonder why some Scots want independence.

Precisely, England does not have a border with Eire.

 

[Altnabreac]

If it's billed as being part of the same "network" as HS2 then it becomes a UK project, so part of the same "national" funding as the London - Birmingham - Leeds/ Manchester railway (so no "Barnett").

Upgrade the line from Edinburgh to Glasgow otherwise and Holyrood has to pay for it out of the "Scottish" purse - call it an extension of HS2 years before the bit north of Manchester (or Leeds) gets built and you can get Westminster to pay for it.

I believe the intention is that the initial phase of Scottish High Speed Rail (outskirts of Edinburgh - outskirts of Glasgow, with a delta junction to the south of Carstairs) will be funded from the Holyrood transport budget as a domestic Scottish project (assuming a no vote to independence!).

This initial route serves both a domestic purpose (increased capacity and speed Edinburgh - Glasgow) and a UK wide pupose (improving capacity and speed in cross border journeys).

Any extensions to link up with HS2 (Carstairs - Carlisle) and/or full city centre European gauge routes / new stations in Edinburgh and Glasgow would only be required as part of a full extension of HS2 to Scotland and it is this second phase that would be funded as a UK wide project and not be subject to Barnett etc.

 

[khib70]

Hobos have a nasty habit of popping up all over the place. For some reason they attract a lot of celebrity support. Had one on my train yesterday. Nice chap though he said thankyou when alighting at Fauldhouse.

With regard to the trams - what would be the nearest stop to Tynecastle? Possibly Murrayfield? York Place for Easter Road but it would be a bit of a hike from there.

I wonder if there will be integrated rail/tram ticketing too?

I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. By the time the tram is running it will be a nice big Asda. With all that shopping, you'll be better hopping on a bus from Gorgie Road

 

[Eagle]

I'm only going on my experiences of driving the 1 when the football is on at Easter Road.

(Incidentally, something I hate doing. Thankfully managed to avoid it at Gorgie so far)

(He's also going on the fact that despite living in Edinburgh for 22 years, I still have to remind him which one is Hearts and which one is Hibs. )

 

[cjp]

I find that the biggest error that "some folk" make is in imaginging that England has a government. I think that mistake might be the only misconception that is still widely held from the Shakespearian era.

Returning to the subject of the thread, I do find it frustrating that the Government (that is the Scottish one) hasn't found it appropriate to make the very modest connections between the airport terminals and the very nearby railways which already exist at Abbotsinch (Glasgow), Turnhouse (Edinburgh) and Dalcross (Inverness), each of which would greatly impact on the proportion of journeys by road to those airports.

I find the evidence from Stansted, Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle, Heathrow and elsewhere is that rail connections to airports are extremely popular. With as many trains passing the end of the main runway at Edinburgh as there are planes landing on that runway, it is perverse not to connect the two.

Although the Inverness - Aberdeen line is right on the southern boundary of Inverness / Dalcross with the current timetable of a train every two hours I would not think the train service would be attactive or cost effective.
Although all it would need is a a platform such as was built at Conon Bridge I think that a bus taxi or car from just outside the terminal building would be more attractive -unless a train just happened to connect with a flight but even then.
I do agree about Edinburgh though and would have thought a metro style service would have been better than the tram.
I have never flown to Glasgow so cannot comment on that possibility.

 

[90019]

(He's also going on the fact that despite living in Edinburgh for 22 years, I still have to remind him which one is Hearts and which one is Hibs. )

Uh, I know which is which.

You must be thinking of something else. :?

 

[Eagle]

I mean you had to be reminded which one played at which ground. Admittedly this was before or not long you'd started driving service buses; I imagine you're more familiar with them now you see some of the fans every other weekend.

 

[90019]

I mean you had to be reminded which one played at which ground. Admittedly this was before or not long you'd started driving service buses; I imagine you're more familiar with them now you see some of the fans every other weekend.

Thankfully not that often.

 

[Altnabreac]

Although the Inverness - Aberdeen line is right on the southern boundary of Inverness / Dalcross with the current timetable of a train every two hours I would not think the train service would be attactive or cost effective.
Although all it would need is a a platform such as was built at Conon Bridge I think that a bus taxi or car from just outside the terminal building would be more attractive -unless a train just happened to connect with a flight but even then.
I do agree about Edinburgh though and would have thought a metro style service would have been better than the tram.
I have never flown to Glasgow so cannot comment on that possibility.

The Network Rail Strategic Business Plan for Scotland 2014 -2019 Includes the Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Line Improvements Phase 1. See p66 of this document:
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=30064784336

Aberdeen to Inverness Rail Line Improvements Phase 1, delivering the network capability to enable the
operation of enhanced commuting services from Aberdeen to Inverurie and from Elgin to Inverness. In addition,
working with station promoters to deliver new stations at Kintore (Nestrans) and Dalcross (Hitrans) *

This will allow more frequent services to run (potentially up to a 2tph service between Elgin and Inverness) and in phase 2 will also enable an hourly Inverness to Aberdeen service.

I believe that Dalcross (for Inverness Airport) station itself is planned to be funded from a combination of developer contributions, Hitrans and the separate £31m Scottish Stations Fund.

Although airport traffic forms part of the business case for the station it is likely that commuters to the nearby business park and park and ride traffic to Inverness also form significant elements of the predicted passenger flows.