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The Train Station Campaign

The campaign enters 2025 with a fair chance of success

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About the NTSG campaign

A long running, deep-rooted desire has existed in Newburgh to reopen its railway station, closed for passenger services since 1955. Many attempts have been made over the years, with the current campaign set up in 2011 as a result of a Newburgh-led project comprehensively reporting on the best actions the community could take going forward for a sustainable future. 

 

The station reopening was high on the list and deemed feasible. Campaigning commenced building cross-party political support, ensuring the project was represented on the TayPlan and Fife Council’s Local Development Plan, developing support and working relationships with regional transport partnerships, council transportation officials and many other transport professionals, as well as consolidating the community base of the campaign through a body of committed volunteers.

 

This culminated with Scottish Government funds awarded to the campaign, South East Scotland Transport Partnership and Fife Council, to commission a Newburgh-centred transport appraisal by consultants with Transport Scotland’s approval, which confirmed a station reopening was the best by far option needed to address Newburgh’s sustainable public transport objectives.

 

All now that needs doing is to take this work forward with all our partners and the Scottish Government committing to a rail study report on the feasibility, design and costings for a station at Newburgh. The campaign is that close to succeeding with this one small step.

A constituted community group

Newburgh Train Station Group (NTSG) is a fully constituted community group.

 

Meetings are held by a management committee elected at the annual AGM and have occurred monthly but must occur at least four times a year.  

 

All supporters on the email list are invited to the AGM and sent the relevant papers for the meeting as far as is possible. Notice of management committee meetings is sent out to its members but if any supporters want to know more and come along with a potential view to becoming more involved please contact the campaign group at the email given below.  The usual venue is the Tayside Institute and Community Centre in Newburgh.

newburgh.train.station@gmail.com

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MP Wendy Chamberlain, Lib-Dem

Wendy Chamberlain is the Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife, and has been an MP continually since 12 December 2019. 

MSP Willie Rennie, Lib-Dem

Willie Rennie Liberal Democrat MSP for North East Fife (Constituency) 2016 - present day

MSP Mark-Ruskell, Scottish Greens for Mid Scotland and Fife

Mark Ruskell Scottish Green Party 

MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife (Region) 2016 - present day

Former MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife (Region) 2003 - 2007

MSP Murdo Fraser, Conservatives  for Mid Scotland and Fife (region)

Murdo Fraser Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party / MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife (Region) 2001 - present day

Campaign support (with thanks)

MSP Claire Baker, Labour

Claire Baker  is the Scottish Labour MSP for MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife (Region) and has been an MSP continually since 2007. 

Cllr David Ross, Labour - Leader of Fife Council

David Ross is the Labour Councillor for the Fife Ward: Kirkcaldy North (Ward 10) and Leader of Fife Council

Cllr Gary Holt, Lib-Dem

Gary Holt is the Liberal Democrat Councillor for the Fife Ward: Howe of Fife and Tay Coast (Ward 16)

Cllr Donald Lothian, Lib-Dem

Donald Lothian is the Liberal Democrat Councillor for the Fife Ward: Howe of Fife and Tay Coast (Ward 16)

Campaign meeting

A management group business meeting will be held at the TICC next Tuesday evening at 7.30pm, 28th January, at the TICC in the upstairs committee room.  

 

If you are interested in attending and would like to make a contribution and help the campaign going forward please feel free to come along. If you wish to attend, then please let us know (here) and we will send you an agenda and other relevant papers. 

In other news

  • The campaign awaits Transport Scotland’s response to our final set of appraisal submissions that went into them in December last year. 

 

  • The Scottish Greens and Liberal Democrats have included the Newburgh Station Project as part of their respective budget negotiations list for their support of the Scottish Government’s 2025 proposed budget.

Campaign history

2024

 

January

 

Wendy Chamberlain MP met with a fabulous turn out of campaign supporters at the Lindores Abbey Distillery on a Saturday afternoon to speak about her plans to meet the UK Minister for Rail and HS2 in mid February this year to discuss what support may be available from the UK Government for the Newburgh Railway Station re-instatement.

 

The Dundee Courier covered the event and the campaign’s efforts with photos (here) 

 

2023

December

 

Wendy Chamberlain MP asked a question of the Secretary of State for Transport in the Westminster Parliament. (here)

​​

Wendy Chamberlain  (North East Fife) (LD)T4. Earlier this year, the UK Government pledged to fund a bridge repair in the constituency of the hon. Member for Moray (Douglas Ross). The Newburgh train station campaign is working to re-establish a train station that will provide a vital transport link. Assuming that strategic funding is not just available to Members of the Conservative party, who can I speak to in order to get that station re-established? (900675)

 

Mr Harper (Secretary of State for Transport) On her first point, we are working with the local authority to progress that scheme, which was announced earlier.

 

On her specific point, I will arrange for the relevant Minister to meet her so that she can put forward the case for that scheme, and we will look at whether it is possible to do anything to help her.

November

 

Scottish Parliament, 2nd November, Portfolio Question Time – Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition.Our MSPs ask questions of the Minister for TransportRead the page from the Scottish Parliament Official Report here: NewburghStationQuestionsInScot Parl2_11_23. Watch the questions asked in the Scottish Parliament debating chamber here ( 5 minutes) Q&A OCTOBER

October

We would like to invite you to a Saturday morning coffee morning in the Tayside Institute and Community Centre, to meet members of the Newburgh Train Station Campaign and folk in Newburgh, to touch base and find out more about the campaign and what we are up to (a new website is on its way).Members of the new campaign management committee will be on hand to meet, greet and talk. Display graphics will illustrate campaign thinking.  Primary school art work will be displayed, 300 postcard size images and even more images displayed for the first time entered as designs by schools in the area for a new campaign logo.Funds raised at the event will go towards basic running costs, publicity and hall hire etc.The event is an opportunity for all involved in supporting the campaign to come together and show a new public face as we work harder than ever to take the overwhelmingly strong case for a station and rail service once again for Newburgh to the closing stages of getting the job done

June 2023

The final part of the Newburgh STAG Transport Appraisal has been finalised to meet some of the comments Transport Scotland made and is now with them on their desks for approval.  The case for the station at Abernethy Road in Newburgh emerged as the front runner, ahead of the other options considered, for bringing the kind of change needed by Newburgh.

On Monday evening, 12th June, at the Lindores Distillery the campaign meeting was attended by around 80 people with offers made to help with the drive to publicise the campaign and reach into the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government to bring to the attention of MSPs and ministers the excellent case Newburgh has to reinstate a station for passenger services and show what a tremendous amount of support there is for this in Newburgh as well as the positive impact this will have on Newburgh’s future development, putting Newburgh fairly back on the map of Scotland.

The meeting was attended by Willie Rennie MSP who heard people’s present concerns around transport and travel, leading into an extremely constructive discussion around the ways forward and the publicity drive. 

May 2023

Parliament detate

Transport Options (Rural Areas)

Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)

 

'Scotland’s rural communities have great ideas on how to improve our national rail network. At the moment, ​

Wendy Chamberlain, MP for NE Fife, discussing rail funding

ScotRail services pass through Newburgh, but have not stopped there since the station closed in 1955. A simple low-cost modular station could reconnect Newburgh to the rail network.What discussions has the minister had about the opportunities that modular stations provide? Will the minister agree to meet me and the Newburgh Train Station Campaign group in the months to come?'

Kevin Stewart

'In the short time in which I have been in post, I have not had any discussions about modular stations, but I understand that Transport Scotland officials are already engaged with SEStran—South East of Scotland Transport Partnership—on its appraisal of the Newburgh area and have offered a meeting. It should be noted that modular stations are not suitable for all locations...[Edit: this last phrase was used again by the present Minister for Transport, Fiona Hyslop] but, as always, I am happy to have further discussions with Mr Ruskell and his constituents on those matters'.

2022

July
 
The final part of the transport appraisal has now been submitted to Transport Scotland for review and comment.   The download here was resubmitted after these Transport Scotland comments were eventually given in January 2023! The report concludes that the rail option is the best of all the solutions that fit the objectives of the transport appraisal for Newburgh and its area.

June 2022

Portfolio Questions in the Scottish Parliament,

 

29th June

 

Railway Station for Newburgh (STAG Appraisal), from the official report

Willie Rennie:

 

asks Jenny Gilruth, Transport Minister when to expect a decision on a railway station for Newburgh in Fife, following the publication of the Newburgh and area Scottish transport appraisal guidance appraisal.

MSP Jenny Gilruth, SNP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes

Minister

 

​The Scottish Government has provided the South East of Scotland Transport Partnership—SEStran—with funding from the local rail development fund for the Newburgh transport appraisal.SEStran has

advised that it intends to send Transport ScotlandMinister​The Scottish Government has provided the South East of Scotland Transport Partnership—SEStran—with funding from the local rail development fund for the Newburgh transport appraisal.SEStran has advised that it intends to send Transport Scotland the detailed options appraisal report for the Newburgh transport appraisal shortly. That is the third and final stage of a transport appraisal in line with the Scottish transport appraisal guidance, which is known as STAG. ​

 

Willie Rennie:​

 

The community states community is because they feel cut off. The community is united, and been waiting for years for something to happen, so I want to press the minister on the issue. I know that the report will be handed over to Transport Scotland soon, but how long will it take for it to consider the report? When does she expect a decision to be reached?​

 

Minister

 

​Recognises the hope in the local community. He (Rennie) will know of the situation in my constituency and of the long-running campaign to re-establish the railway network in the Levenmouth area. I also understand the community’s feelings of disconnection from the wider rail infrastructure, recognising the geography of where Newburgh sits in the kingdom of Fife.Then stresses the process has to be adhered to. as was the case with the reopening of the Levenmouth line and others in the past. Timescales:  At this time, Transport Scotland has yet to receive the detailed options appraisal. I will provide the timescale once the report has been received for review. will share the details of that with the member once we have received the report.​​​​

 

Mark Ruskell asks a supplementary question

 

The Newburgh study was funded by the local rail development fund, alongside a range of other community projects across Scotland. Will the minister give an assurance that, now that those projects are coming to the end of the STAG process, all of them will be considered when it comes to allocating funds for rail infrastructure investment under control period 7?​Transport

 

Minister

 

​I join the member in paying tribute to the hard-working community groups across the country, such as the one that we heard Mr Rennie speak of. Last Friday, I was in the north-east, where I heard from a campaign group about the re-establishment of rail in that part of the country. Of course, it is for that reason that the Government created the local rail development fund. The projects that Mr Ruskell mentioned are under way and are being considered under STAG. Projects that present a strong business case will be considered on a case-by-case basis. However, there must be local input into the process, which is one of the LRDF’s strengths.

Minister of Transport Jenny Gilruth

August 2021

A Proposed New ScotRail Timetable Is Published In Draft And Open To Public Consultation [Here]

 

This represents an opportunity for more local services on the Perth Edinburgh route since the express services from Inverness to Edinburgh have been switched via Stirling, which had been a factor used against opening a service from Newburgh when Inverness services used our local stretch of the line.

 

The proposed draft for the new timetable of direct interest to us which aims to be live from May 2022 can be seen [Here]

 

[Here] for all proposed East Of Scotland routes https://www.scotrail.co.uk/timetable-routes/east-scotland

 

On this page you can follow the link for the feedback form to give your views on the proposed timetable changes and the opportunity it should provide to give Newburgh a rail service.  The proposals ought also to give the rail option in the work currently being done on the Newburgh STAG transport appraisal a greater score as a viable intervention.

 

The consultation is open from 20 August to 1 October 2021, to seek opinions on the proposed timetables.For a link to a page with links to all proposed timetables in Scotland [Here

 

The third and final stage of the study, the Detailed Appraisal is currently under way. This will see the interventions being assessed in greater detail against the STAG criteria of Environment, Economy, Safety, Integration and Accessibility/Social Inclusion. The appraisal will also consider the options in the context of Cost to Government and Risk and Uncertainty.

 

To view the proposals that are being assessed as part of the Detailed Appraisal, please visit the Project website Improving transport for Newburgh for details about the Newburgh Transport Appraisal project and the Proposals page for the options being examined to give Newburgh better transport connections, a new railway station at Newburgh being one of them.  Feedback and comments are invited on the Proposals page.

 

December 2020 Transport Scotland Greenlight

 

The Last Phase Of The Newburgh Transport Appraisal The final stage of the Newburgh transport appraisal funded under the Scottish Government’s Local Rail Development Fund has been given approval by Transport Scotland to go ahead after the successful completion of the second part, the InitiaI Options Appraisal.  

 

The Detailed Options Appraisal will begin in January 2021, although in anticipation of approval, some work has already begun.This is very welcomed after much grim news during 2020’s pandemic. However, despite the emergency restrictions, work has been very much ongoing with the Newburgh Transport Appraisal Project Group and the consultants able to work online and regularly meet via video link.

 

Political representatives have also been briefed on progress. Wendy Chamberlain MP for North East Fife met the project group on a video call in the autumn.  The project group includes transport officers from Fife Council, South East Scotland Transport Partnership and a representative from Newburgh Train Station Group. Additionally, Newburgh Train Station Group has reported regularly with the Fife Rail Forum and attended its video call meetings convened by Mark Ruskell MSP for Mid-Scotland & Fife Region.

 

2021 will therefore see the final phase of the Newburgh Transport Appraisal, which, all being well, will be completed  by Easter.  The views of the community will once again be called on and fed into the report.So far the Newburgh Transport Appraisal has made the case well for better public transport and active travel provision in the area.  The case for connecting Newburgh back into the railway system is being shown to be particularly strong, especially when considered in tandem with a connecting bus service and active travel routes, both in terms of cycling and pedestrian pathways.

More campaign history

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