Forth Tunnel key to Greens' £22bn rail plan
Proposals for a new link between Fife and Edinburgh
Last updated 13th Jan 2021
The Scottish Greens are unveiling plans for a £22 billion rail plan which includes nationalising services and creating a tunnel under the Firth of Forth, paid for by diverting money which would be used to expand the road network.
The Rail for All programme, devised by Deltix Transport Consulting, would completely electrify the rail network by 2030, seeing Scotland's rail infrastructure produce net zero carbon.
But the boldest plan would see a tunnel built under the Firth of Forth between Edinburgh and Fife.
The project, estimated to cost between £4 billion and £6 billion, would relieve a "bottleneck" impacting upon services on the east coast, which currently have to run through Haymarket station in Edinburgh along with all other trains leaving the capital.
The tunnel would also see a station created at Leith to connect the city centre to the new crossing.
Another proposal is for a new terminus station, above ground, at St Enoch in Glasgow.
Greens transport spokesman John Finnie, who commissioned Deltix to develop the plan, said: "The Scottish Greens are proposing the biggest rail investment programme Scotland has ever seen.
"Our fully-costed £22 billion plan would transform Scotland's railway, building a modern, zero-carbon network that is affordable and accessible to all.
"Rail for All is about making rail the natural choice for every journey. Whether you're commuting, travelling for business or leisure."
Rail expert backing
Rail engineer, Gareth Dennis, told Forth 1 a tunnel would be easier to construct than the Queensferry Crossing: "Yes, tunnels can be expensive, but once you've created the entry portal, and the big machines are churning through the ground, tunnelling is quite straightforward."
"As engineers the one major advantage we have if we want to tunnel out under the Firth of Forth is that we've been doing it for centuries and have a good understanding of the geology under the water there."
Under the plans, the Highland Main Line, Far North Line, West Highland Line and Ayr to Stranraer Line will all be upgraded, rural trains will be converted to run on battery power and, where practically possible, towns of 5,000 people or more will be connected to the network.
Levenmouth Rail Campaign chairman, Eugene Clarke is also welcoming a proposal to reopen the Dunfermline to Alloa route: "It that were to be reopened it would open the option of an entirely different route across to Central Scotland and to Glasgow without having to go over the Forth Bridge.
Is nationalisation the answer?
The party is also pushing for the rail network to be publicly operated.
The report said: "Re-integrating ScotRail and Network Rail (Scotland) into one publicly owned company with oversight by Scottish ministers would provide a much more efficient structure, cutting costs by reducing overlapping work, speeding up decision making and project design, and removing the cost of compensation paid when lines are shut for engineering works.
"Effectively, we recommend a return to the very successful ScotRail that existed before privatisation.''
ScotRail has some under scrutiny in recent years for underperformance, with Scottish ministers deciding to strip its franchisee Abellio of its contract next year.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Some of the suggested interventions are already being considered by the Scottish Government. Aspirational projects, such as the Firth of Forth Tunnel proposal by the Green Party, would be subject to the same scrutiny from the earliest stages to ensure they merited any serious consideration.
"We have stated for some time now that the franchising model is no longer fit for purpose and an integrated, public sector controlled railway, fully accountable to Scottish Ministers and Parliament will best serve Scotland's economy and its communities.
"Repeated calls on UK ministers to give Scotland the powers needed to secure the best future for Scotland's railway network, and to remove the absurdities and anomalies of the current system, have been denied."
"The ongoing Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) will help to deliver the vision, priorities and outcomes for transport set out in the National Transport Strategy published in February 2020. STPR2 will inform transport investment in Scotland for the next 20 years.''