We need investment in rail as well as road
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SUMMER patching on our roads has produced the usual rash of 20 mph signs and chippings hitting our cars on many stretches. This summer ritual has again shown that at least some money is going into much-needed highway maintenance.
Importantly, a scheme for the crawler lane and north-slope bypass at the Berriedale Braes was widely aired and costed. I am committed to underline their urgency to our transport minister, Keith Brown, to try and squeeze a few million pounds out of the shrunken coffers of Scottish Government funds.
Be it noted that big schemes are all much delayed as road projects take time to plan, budget and build.
It was long before the first SNP Government came to power in 2007 that roads engineers in the Highland Council were predicting that, on average, major upgrades and maintenance could take 100 years-plus per stretch and Berriedale Braes needed attention. Today the cuts made in London lengthen the odds on cherished road improvement schemes in many parts of the land.
An integrated approach to road and rail investment would be best. That way demands to dual the A9 south of Inverness could be put in perspective, though an opposition candidate last May called for dualling the A9 north of Tore! Road usage figures show more targeted schemes are needed such as making junctions safer at many places on the existing routes.
That leads me to the railway story. I applaud the Rail Accident Investigation Branch of the UK Transport Department for its trenchant views on putting gates on level crossings. We have many of the UK total north and west of Inverness.
So if any trials are to take place then the Halkirk crossing should be first in the queue.
My colleague, Dave Thompson, conducted a thorough consultation on the level crossings which has helped to spur the tough report from the RAIB.
Now Network Rail will have to find the cash to make the changes and there’s another rub.
The Dornoch Link Action Group, of which I was a founder member, is about to launch a passenger survey to show the need for the Dornoch short cut which readers of the Groat will be well familiar with.
A 45-minute time saving on existing track and bypassing the Lairg loop was stymied since the Tory Government in the 1980s ditched an earlier version of this scheme which could have attracted EU cash.
Today we know the Caithness and North Sutherland Partnership backs the plan. We also know that it could cost £120 million and that the proposed route and river crossings in the 1980s are now problematic.
For instance, there were half a dozen level crossings proposed in the original scheme and environmental designations now affect the proposed crossing south of Golspie at Littleferry.
What should be done? Network Rail is being told to find millions to make it a little safer for vehicle drivers to recognise they have reached a rail ?crossing.
Meanwhile the Far North rail line is desperately in need of investment in a new signalling system, new rails in key parts of the line and more loops to speed up train times and cut the ridiculous four hours-plus it takes from Wick to ?Inverness.
If road and rail were each invested in it would be best. If not we have to make sure the future economic needs of the Far North get a fair share of Scottish investment. For that I am pledged to campaign till we succeed.
I’M keeping an eye on the ferry proposals for the Caithness to Orkney services. I note that the tender for ferries between Scrabster and Stromness could be separated from the Aberdeen, Kirkwall, Lerwick route.
It serves Caithness and Orkney best to have two short-sea crossings. Again, we now know that the subsidy regime for NorthLink has been higher than needed due to a grossly over-designed ship for the Stromness run.
Figures show passengers and freight are now shared between the Gills Bay to St Margaret’s Hope run and the Scrabster to Stromness route and that those travelling across the Pentland Firth have increased considerably in recent years. I want to ensure an affordable service with the choice of routes that passengers and freight now enjoy across the Pentland Firth. I’ll keep on the case.
THE county is in the midst of an education upheaval. Or at least parts of it are. I hope that the debate over reducing the primary schools in Wick to two gets a fair hearing. Readers may not know that Dingwall, with around 6000 residents, has had one primary school for many years.
However the Highland Council plans need to be fleshed out and explain how new build in the Royal Burgh of Wick will affect smaller adjacent schools in Thrumster, Keiss, etc. We need to see overall plans that meet the need for smaller communities as well as large ones.
That was the thrust of education secretary Mike Russell’s proposals and is underlined by the Christie Commission which insisted that local people and communities must be part of the decision-taking process in all cases of change.
On the other side of the county, Thurso is now a university town. Talks continue to put the structures in place for the newly accredited University of the Highlands and Islands while the new buildings at the North Highland College in Thurso show a big leap forward in both facilities and vision.
I’ve been in close touch with the Environmental Research Institute as it spreads its wings. Now its world-class eco-building will show off the progress being made and the urgency and immediacy of the work carried out there.
Financial times may be tough but some real improvements are in the mix for education at all levels in Caithness.
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