Back on track
A future of sustainable, active transport - and fewer cars
A sustainable Newburgh
Network Rail have created a Climate Action Plan as part of the Scottish Government's target of net zero emissions by 2045. The action plan highlights the delivery of social value benefits through job creation, training opportunities and reconnecting communities to the network.
Newburgh needs to be reconnected with a rail station to properly connect to the Scottish economy​
For Newburgh, the development of a sustainable travel plan has to include a rail station. It is one of the greenest forms of long-distance public transport and a ready-made solution for a low carbon future with quieter, safer roads and cleaner air. Compared to cars and planes, train travel reduces carbon emissions by two thirds.
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​And there are plans to make train travel greener still. Main lines are being electrified, and new forms of battery and hydrogen propulsion are being trialled in Scotland.
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Moving the current operational network to net zero future must clearly go hand in hand with getting more people onto the network.. But are £15 or £20 million fully featured stations the answer? The jury is out on the cost of such expensive stations. Would a larger number of smaller, cheaper, modular stations or halts be, in many instances, a better solution perhaps?
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We believe a cheap, modular station is the right solution for Newburgh
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We know there are many communities like ours sitting on or near a train line who could also benefit from a small station. The last short-form modular station deployed was at Beauly Station in 2013. It was seen by the then Transport Minister as a success. Yet no more similar, short-form stations have been opened in Scotland since.
Here, in Newburgh, we wait patiently to get access. As mentioned elsewhere, the bus service is
considered unreliable and does not attract enough people away from the car - the largest transport polluter.. And so the car remains the principle means to travel.
No forging of plans towards net zero can be complete without getting more stations opened - even small ones..
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Introducing the halt (the small station)
St Keyne Wishing Well Halt in Cornwall - By Geoff Sheppard
Many smaller rail stations were once entitled 'halts'. Use of the term was removed from timetables by British Rail in 1974 then came back in 1978 for the opening of IBM Halt in Greenock in Scotland. That halt closed but meanwhile two other stations in England are now identified as halts. The name, however, is being increasingly used to distinguish a small station with minimal infrastructure to a larger fully featured station.
The Newburgh Train Station Campaign advocates for a smaller, modular halt for the town.
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It can be a very affordable modular design, assembled on site using sustainable pre-build faction components: a modular design plus assembly low on carbon emissions equals a cost far less than traditional station builds.
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A halt can comprise no more than a short-form platform. It can be deployed quickly at minimal cost AND it can be removed if there are insufficient passengers. From a government perspective, what is there not to like?
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And this is what we want for Newburgh.
Transport Scotland
We believe a better railway for Scotland is possible and we're investing over £4 billion to make it a reality
From the Transport Scotland website
Transport is responsible for over 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland. 66% of this comes from the the road sector.
Declining bus provision in Scotland makes it hard for the Scottish government to meet its commitment to reduce car miles by 20 per cent by 2030, relative to a 2019 baseline. While bus miles have decreased by 27 per cent, the total distance travelled by passengers has dropped precipitously by 44 per cent.
​"Bus times are a nightmare so won't use plus they stop at certain times in the evening. No good would rather take the train. Plus with an extra large family, trains would ensure more quality time together as a family as there are too many of us to fit in a car"​
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Newburgh Resident
Transport Scotland
"We are investing in a fully sustainable transport network, cleaning up, joining up and raising the visibility of the full range of transport options whilst encouraging people to think about how they make their journeys..."
From the Transport Scotland Website
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Big shiny new stations or small, ‘no nonsense’ halts
A halt, compared to other recently opened stations, would be a very affordable project that would have significant, positive impact beyond the low cost to build.
It is a bargain.
Compare the price of our proposed modest halt to the costs of recently opened stations with price tags of £15 and £20 million. Reston station has been called, perhaps unfairly, a white elephant by the Glasgow Herald.
Current passenger numbers for this station do not seem to have justified the costly build. The go ahead for the station was modelled on a 30-year business plan -a long time to succeed or fail.
Big station vs. small station
Large, costly stations, not set in an urban environment or not near an airport, will need to pull on a sizable catchment area to generate passenger numbers. How do these passengers get to the station? One assumes Transport Scotland have plans for greener, electric buses running more regularly over an expanded network that connect the station to its hinterland. And this coupled with active transport – walk, cycling and wheeling IS the future. Only it is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
Transport Scotland
We believe a better railway for Scotland is possible and we're investing over £4 billion to make it a reality
From the Transport Scotland website
The cost of a temporary 10m single door, operational platform at Newburgh can be as low as
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£150,000
And you can take it back if nobody uses it!
Current bus services, in parts of the country, remain unpopular with car drivers and a countrywide network of clean buses and cycle paths is a way off. So, in the meanwhile is it wise to build these large, fully sized stations which will only simple encourage more car journeys to and from a station? Why not instead build smaller, cheaper halts that do not require a car journey to get to them. Surely this is the more sustainable approach to getting more people onto the rail network.These halts are modestly built and to reiterate: they can be removed and moved elsewhere. If a halt does not attract sufficient passengers, then a flexible modular design can be disassembled and moved to another more likely site, to gauge its viability.
Sustainable active transport in Newburgh
So, a halt is a long-term investment in sustainable transport for North-East Fife. It would complement the expected extension of the National Cycle Network to Newburgh. As a town popular with walkers and cyclists, a joined up rail and cycle/walk path experience would be both environmentally sensible and would also offer exciting new business opportunities. Cycling tourism would provide work by increasing the opportunities to open visitor accommodation, cafes and bars, bike shop/bike hire businesses, guided walks, cycle tourism and others besides.
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"I would travel by train if it stopped in Newburgh. Buses are far too infrequent. Can't use public transport for work at all...Options for Newburgh are almost non existent - infrequent, expensive, so I travel everywhere by car. Can't go out at weekends as there is no way of getting home late evening. No direct route to Dundee at all .. Other towns are well catered for - why not us?"
Newburgh Resident
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Newburgh is growing
Planning permission has been given to build some 232 new properties in Newburgh. This will mean a fair increase in Newburgh's population. This, in itself, is not a problem. But without improved infrastructure and better public transport, many new residents will mostly commute to work by car using the increasingly congested A913. They too will compete with the growing volume of heavy lorry traffic from the nearby quarry and elsewhere. This is NOT sustainable travel. So let Newburgh get a station and let us start the journey towards greener travel and healthier living.
"The fact is that if we want to go further afield, to either Glasgow or Edinburgh, we need to travel to Perth first. A train station at Newburgh would solve this".
"I cannot get directly home to/from Edinburgh, and so have to factor in extra transportation, costs and time".
"Frustration at not being able to access frequent and fast public transport".
Newburgh Transport Survey
This 2018 survey captures Newburgh's frustration with public transport. It is still VERY relevant today
A recent IPPR* Report states
*IPPR is an independent charity of researchers, communicators, and policy experts who look towards a fairer, greener, and more prosperous society.
Declining [rural] bus provision in Scotland makes it hard for the Scottish government to meet its commitment to reduce car miles by 20 per cent by 2030...the total distance travelled by bus passengers has dropped precipitously by 44 per cent.