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And the new ferry port for Belfast is? (July
9 2011)
SAYLSA understands passengers are
to be bussed between Loch Ryan Port and Ayr. Some improvements are to be made to Ayr station to accommodate this.
Coaches are to be liveried in new Rail and Sail colours so as to provide a consistent bus/rail image. Stena wanted to
transport people to/from Girvan and sought improvements to the station facilities but ScotRail were not prepared to do this.
One request was to install disabled access to platform 2, but even we think that was unreasonable - though it might not be
so for Transport Scotland to fund this. SAYLSA anticipate the coach journey time would be 1 hour 15 minutes and that
would mean departures from Glasgow Central at the following times: 0800 1200 1600. So how does that compare to today.
Well under the current service your journey from Glasgow to Belfast would take 4 hours 48 minutes if you caught the 1142 service
to Stranraer and under the new service it would take 5 hours 45 minutes. Still that's what they call progress!
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Campaign for timetable revisit
SAYLSA are pushing hard for a
rethink on the Winter 2011 timetable.
The new timetable will effectively cut the number of trains to/from Stranraer
but increase the number to/from Girvan raising concerns over rail-heading.
A meeting was held on March 23rd in
Stranraer and was well attended with representatives from First ScotRail, Stena, the Stranraer & District Develepment
Trust, SAYLSA, the main political parties, the RMT union, local councillors and members of the public.
Of
particular concern is the proposed advancement of the first 'up' train to Ayr, which would run nearly an hour earlier
at 0615. Students would thus be waiting around Ayr for around an hour before college and schools open.
First
ScotRail have agreed to discuss the matter with Transport Scotland.
SAYLSA are also concerned at the loss of Kilmarnock
- Stranraer services and wish to see the 1140 from Stranraer and 1630 from Ayr to Stranraer re-instated. These measures
would help boost local traffic which has left the railway since the changes to the timetable in December 2009. In addition
we are seeking a retimed 1945 service to leave Stranraer at 1815 so as to bolster the day-tripper market when Stena leave
Stranraer in the Autumn of 2011.
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Girvan back on the table? (July 1 2011)
SAYLSA understands that Girvan could
be back on the table for bus/coach links to the new Stena port - Loch Ryan Port due to open in November 2011. Discussions between Stena and First
ScotRail are due to take place week commencing 4 July. The new Winter 2011 timetable does look as if it is designed
with Girvan links in mind but of course the choice is not easy. The majority of passengers (46%) when surveyed recently
would prefer Ayr simply because one change is better than two, particularly when carrying luggage, buggies and looking after
small children. Interestingly 22% said they would not use the link when it stopped being rail connected. This
just shows the folly of not having a rail connection to Cairnryan and that's around 7,000 passengers who will now travel
less sustainably increasing the carbon footprint.
Northern Belle visits Stranraer line (July 2011)
The luxury rail operator Northern
Belle visited the Stranraer line on Sunday 3rd July but only as far as Maybole. The excursion was part of their National
Trust tours programme and from Maybole passengers were taken to Culzean Castle.
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Stena Port Relocation and future transport strategy
(June 8 2011)
SAYLSA
believe that the new port, Port Ryan is to open in September 2011 and that foot passengers will be transported by road to/from
Ayr under a contractual arrangement with a bus/coach operator. This represents a loss to the line of around 32,500 passengers
and is a classic case of local and national political expediency riding roughshod over common sense. It is understandable
that local politicians wanted Stena to remain in the Loch Ryan area, but what has the Scottish Government done about making
such a move sustainable? Nothing is the answer. Absolutely nothing. Did they obligate Stena
to look at providing a rail link to Port Ryan? No. Did they ask Dumfries and Galloway Council to undertake such
a study? No. Yet if this port (said by some to be along with Cairnryan the second most important ro-ro port in
Britain) was an airport, say Scotland's biggest, would they have built that without even considering a rail connection?
No and we don't think so either. But to say the Scottish Government has done nothing is perhaps a tad harsh because
their response has been to propose that south west Scotland becomes a new land. McTelly Tubby land full of wind turbines
so that their construction can be seen as contributing to the detrimental effect of climate change. The very same climate
change that their transport policy is accelerating! What sort of nonsense is that. SAYLSA believe the way ahead is
to change thinking NOW. To think sense - common sense. People living along the A77 do not want to see more traffic,
by passes kill towns and will kill off the railway, as well as costing hundreds of millions of pounds at a time where money
is in short supply. Yet we have a perfectly good asset, with a dedicated group of men and women, young and old who work
the railway - who maintain it, drive trains, look after the safety of passengers, sell tickets, care for our stations and
operate the signalling system that allows you to arrive safely and often on time. People like the trains. Nearly
70,000 stated last year that for their journey they had no alternative to the train. And the road journey? It
is hell. A goat track with lorries lumbering to/from Cairnryan and Stranraer, cars dawdling along, few overtaking places
(there is one by Baltersan Tower House between Ayr and Girvan and if you're lucky just to the north side of Maybole) and
with diesel at £6.35/gallon it now costs £20 just to drive from Stranraer to Ayr and back in variable costs alone.
For the first time it is arguably cheaper to travel by train when comparing variable costs, which lets face it is what most
car owners do.
So where to next? A meeting is to take place on Thursday 16th June bringing together various
local councils and stakeholders to put forward and develop a new strategy. SAYLSA has already written to the Transport
Minister asking him to step in and review the Winter 2011 rail timetable. When you are about to lose 56% of your market you
don't just plod on regardless you re-assess and as we have said before Transport Scotland is pursuing a strategy that
SAYLSA believe will lead at some point in the future to the line being severed at Girvan. The timetable is unimaginative,
backward in thinking and will deliberately encourage rail heading to Girvan. In some ways it is quite clever but it
is devious and divisive. The Stranraer line will thus becomes a two tier railway. One success has been achieved with
the reversal of the barmy proposal to run a train at 0615 from Stranraer to Kilmarnock, but students attending Kilmarnock
College are to be disadvantaged and traffic opportunities to Stranraer reduced further. This is not what we were assured
by Stewart Stevenson the former Transport Minister. A timetable better suited to local needs was the mantra. As
they say in some parts of London. You're 'aving a larf! We will update readers with news
items as they unfold but at the moment we will stay focused on proposing a better transport strategy for everyone be they
in Maybole, Girvan, Barrhill or Stranraer.
Why doesn't Transport Scotland care about
the Stranraer line? (May 2011)
Transport Scotland (TS) have now advised the two Regional Transport Partnerships of their amended final Winter
2011 timetable - and it doesn't make for pretty reading.
In essence the route is to be operated as two separate
services:
- Kilmarnock to Girvan (Stranraer after 1700)
- Ayr to Stranraer (with occassional trains
to/from Glasgow Central).
This flies in the face of the Deltix Report of 2009 which suggested that the Stranraer
line timetable was one of the most complex with three or four service patterns.
Whilst TS are adamant
they wish to increase the number of services to/from Girvan, and this is welcomed, this is very much at the expense of
running down the line south to Stranraer. It will now be virtually impossible to get to Stranraer from the G&SW
route at Kilmarnock without going via Glasgow or a very cold wait in Ayr. Incredibly they have sanctioned two trains
travelling towards Girvan within 10 minutes of each other but the first one goes to Stranraer from Ayr and the latter to Girvan
from Kilmarnock! An excellent example of attrocious timetabling and how we have gone from "joining up journeys
to carving up connections". It is quite frankly appalling.
SAYLSA ask if this is the first signs of
the hidden masterplan which is:
- provide an unattractive timetable so people will desert the railway south of Girvan
- sanction scores of wind turbines in the Assel, Stinchar and Fleet Valleys so people won't visit the area
-
spend hundreds of millions on the A77 upgrading it
- close the line south of Girvan
- electrify to Girvan (or run
as a shuttle from Ayr)
One concession has been the cancellation of plans to dump workers and students in Ayr at
0735. The 0709 train will now leave 6 minutes later at 0715 but NOT go to Kilmarnock, terminating at Ayr. This
will have an effect on students. Even those from Girvan will now have to leave an hour earlier. And if you
work 9 to 5 in Girvan and travel from Ayr - forget it. Your train has been cancelled too!
All in all it leaves
a very bad taste and we ask how on earth are we to encourage passengers when Scotland's Transport Agency produces a timetable
like this?
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Campaign for timetable revisit (March 2011)
SAYLSA are pushing hard for a
rethink on the Winter 2011 timetable.
The new timetable will effectively cut the number of trains to/from Stranraer
but increase the number to/from Girvan raising concerns over rail-heading.
A meeting was held on March 23rd in
Stranraer and was well attended with representatives from First ScotRail, Stena, the Stranraer & District Develepment
Trust, SAYLSA, the main political parties, the RMT union, local councillors and members of the public.
Of
particular concern is the proposed advancement of the first 'up' train to Ayr, which would run nearly an hour earlier
at 0615. Students would thus be waiting around Ayr for around an hour before college and schools open.
First
ScotRail have agreed to discuss the matter with Transport Scotland.
SAYLSA are also concerned at the loss of Kilmarnock
- Stranraer services and wish to see the 1140 from Stranraer and 1630 from Ayr to Stranraer re-instated. These measures
would help boost local traffic which has left the railway since the changes to the timetable in December 2009. In addition
we are seeking a retimed 1945 service to leave Stranraer at 1815 so as to bolster the day-tripper market when Stena leave
Stranraer in the Autumn of 2011.
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Scottish
Transport Minister visits Stranraer Line (August 2010)
On Wednesday August 11th Stewart Stevenson MSP Minister for Transport, Infrastructure
and Climate Change visited the line and gave a clear commitment that the railway would not close after Stena relocates
away from Stranraer at the end of 2011.The Minister was also highly supportive of the clear vision
that the line’s Community Rail Partnership SAYLSA together with the two Chambers of Commerce for Stranraer and Wigtown
has for the railway and urged them to seek out the decision makers to deliver their plan. He also explained that whilst
a SNP Government could be pro active and provide some basis for growth and development in advance of this happening he could
give no commitment on the levels of service to be provided. SAYLSA and the two Chambers also sought the Minister’s support for the restoration
of the existing Stranraer station back to its Victorian splendour rather than be replaced by a new facility a mere 200m to
the east citing value for money as a basis for its retention. “Their appeared a high degree of support for our
position, given the small benefits any new facility would create” said SAYLSA‘s Development Manager Richard Carr.
“We expressed upon the Minister the need to build upon the line’s strengths and one of these is the route’s
heritage. History pays, it is an integral part of the tourism product and a major reason why people visit Scotland”
said Wigtown Chamber President Peter Jeal. Officials also confirmed that the sums for any replacement facility, known
as the PTI were not coming from any Department under their control.
Stewart Stevenson was also interested in the Group’s vision
for seeing a renaissance in rail freight on the Stranraer line. He said that the Scottish Government were supportive
of track side loading for timber and was particular interested in the proposal to undertake a study into the ability for the
rail freight industry to provide a competitive link to the new Loch Ryan facilities. This would if successful provide
the basis for a freight transhipment facility at Stranraer and provided everything else fitted commented “I would not
want to see a 7 mile stretch of highway stand in the way of taking a number of heavy lorry movements off the roads”.
However he cautioned against seeking a restoration of the Cairnryan Military Railway in the near future, something the group
see as dependent upon a successful trial before campaigning for a total rail solution. “This was a very positive
position,” said Wolf Richthofen, Chairman of Stranraer Chamber. “No one wants to see hundreds of daily truck
movements when a significant number of these are inter regional journeys between Ireland and the British mainland and could
if conditions permit go by rail”. All three organisations are to meet with Dumfries & Galloway Council later
in the month to develop their proposals.
Climate
Challenge Project well under way (July 2010)
The one year project aims to increase ridership on the Stranraer to Ayr rail line by 5% by
diverting 10,000 passengers who would otherwise travel by car and contribute 90 tonnes of carbon into the environment, onto
rail services. This is to be achieved through promoting sustainable tourism and travel opportunities aimed at walkers,
cyclists and the local communities and delivered by a community based sustainable travel and tourism social enterprise organisation.
In June SAYLSA appointed Richard Carr to be the project's Climate Challenge Project Manager.
Richard reports to a Working Group consisting of members drawn from local Community Councils at Maybole, Girvan and Barrhill,
officers from South Ayrshire Council and representation from Stranraer Chamber of Commerce.
One of the earliest
tasks was to undertake surveys and these have just been completed. The hard work of analysis now begins although already
it is clear people choose the train over the bus for its comfort and convenience.
Kevin's
SAYLSA fundraiser is on the right lines! (June 2010)
NEWTON Stewart man Kevin
Dean is on track to walk the West Highland Way in August to raise funds for the community rail partnership, SAYLSA.
Kevin, who is a member of SAYLSA (The Stranraer to Ayr Line Support Association) will be setting off on the 95 mile walk
from Milngavie on Friday, August 27th and will reach Fort William on September 2nd.
Part of the route hugs the
West Highland Railway, but Kevin will be completing the entire journey under his own steam in order to raise funds to support
the work of SAYLSA which is seeking to develop usage of the Stranraer to Ayr line especially once Stena relocates to its new
port facilities just north of Cairnryan in 2012.
"Most people think of the West Highland Railway as being
particularly scenic," said Kevin.
"But the Stranraer to Ayr line is also very scenic especially at Girvan
with the views across to the Ailsa Craig and the section between Barrhill and Dunragit. That's why SAYLSA is trying to
encourage more tourists to discover it and, in turn, help support the railway's future as well as the local economy along
the entire route.
"But SAYLSA is a registered charity and in order to carry out its work to ensure we secure
this line for all the communities along it, especially once the railway loses the ferry passengers as a result of Stena's
move, we need to raise as much money as possible."
Kevin's father, Roger, who is Chairman of SAYLSA said:
"There are some big challenges SAYLSA is tackling at the moment in order to ensure that Galloway never loses is last
railway link in the way we lost the Stranraer to Dumfries link in the 1960s.
"Not enough local people use
this line largely because of poor timetabling and cost issues, yet, in putting together the new timetable, Transport Scotland
has failed to consult at all with local people about what they want in terms of services. This kind of approach will
not help to encourage more passengers to use this line so we are determined to lobby and ensure that local people are given
a say about the services they want to see."
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SAYLSA bids for minibus (May
2010)
We are in the process of bidding
for a new facility to serve Barrhill and eventually improve links to the Machars. We are in the process of making bids
to local funders with the aim of improving connectivity. SAYLSA's track record in bidding for funding is mixed.
Ironically we seem to do better with funders that aren't local, which seems strange given the support we receive from
the local communities. The outcome of these bids is expected in around 6 weeks time. Here's hoping!
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New bridge for Girvan
(April 2010)
After 134 years service the attractive skewed
arch bridge 002 over the A77 at Girvan station was replaced during the weekend 17th/18th April. Providing a rustic
approach to the town, SAYLSA are saddened to see this northern portal to Girvan destroyed. However that's
progress and the new structure is now in place and the stone wingwalls being replaced.
It is a double edged sword.
After numerous bridge strikes the original structure was weakened and is deemed no longer suitable. However, despite
a 4 year ban on trains heavier than a class 156 using platform 2, the bridge genie must have appeared as within six days
of each other two 600 tonne charter trains were permitted to use it! Its replacement is a steel structure capable of
taking more appropriate loadings and owing to regulations must offer the same road height for the full width of the highway
it spans. The new road height will be increased from 14ft 9in (4.4m) to 16ft 3in (4.9m).
SAYLSA has concerns
on the impact to road safety. The former arched bridge forced drivers, particularly of large lorries to slow
down and move to the centre of the road thus making it safer for pedestrians. This will no longer be the
case. SAYLSA are endeavouring to press for railings to be affixed either side of the highway as the pavement is likely
to be more heavily used with the opening of the new hospital adjacent to the east. Photos of new bridge to follow when
the work is completed.
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| Bridge 002 over the A77 Girvan dating from 1876 |
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| Bridge 002 from the west |
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| Large vehicles move to the centre of the road making pedestrian access safer |
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SAYLSA wins Climate Challenge Funding (April
2010)
On the 31st March the Scottish Government announced that SAYLSA's Stranraer Line Carbon Reduction Project had been one
of 90 projects in Scotland that had been successful in obtaining funding from the Climate Challenge Fund.
The Stranraer line carbon reduction project aims to increase ridership
on the Stranraer to Ayr rail line by 5% by diverting 10,000 passengers who would otherwise travel by car and contribute 90
tonnes of carbon into the environment, onto rail services. This is to be achieved through promoting sustainable
tourism and travel opportunities aimed at walkers, cyclists and the local communities and delivered by a community based sustainable
travel and tourism social enterprise organisation.
New ferry port blow for Stranraer line (February
2010)
On February 10th the Scottish Government announced
that it had approved a Harbour Empowerment Order for the development of a new port approximately 8 miles north of Stranraer
at Old House Point, Cairnryan. This facility will be used by Stena who intend opening it in the autumn of 2011 and will
see the end of Stranraer as a ferry port - 149 years on from the first rail/ferry service, which started on October 1st
1862. The port will not be rail connected having only road access.
The
cost of the new port is put at £200m and will see 40,000 passengers lost to rail as they are to be bussed to/from Ayr
as currently happens for passengers arriving off the 1030 ferry from Belfast at Stranraer. A good example of uncoordinated
strategic transport planning and environmental thinking, even the Chinese and Indian Governments, countries not
noted for their environmental sustainability, provide rail facilities to new ports.
The environmental damage will
be considerable as the A77 corridor currently contributes in excess of 45,000 tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere of which
over 26,000 tonnes derives from the Stranraer and Cairnryan areas alone. It is hard to reconcile this decision
with the Scottish Government's climate change agenda. The ports of Stranraer and Cairnryan have also declined
over the last decade with reductions in cars (down 36%), passengers (down 38%) and lorries (down 21%) at Stranraer and in cars
(down 16%)and passengers (down 18%) at Cairnryan. This suggests that whilst Cairnryan may have some advantage over Stranraer,
the decline is structural. It is interesting to note that local authorities in North Wales are lobbying for a rail freight
facility at Holyhead in complete contrast to Dumfries & Galloway and South Ayrshire Councils. Ironically
the amount of rai/ferry passenger traffic at Stranraer has increased over the last six years.
All data
derived from Dft Maritime Port statistics or Sustainable Development Commission recognised sources.
Current Projects - SCRF fund Stranraer station (January
2010)
SAYLSA
have applied for funding under SCRF (Station Community Regeneration Fund) to turn the former access passageway (referred to
as the Polytunnel) at Stranraer station into a museum and Waterfront information area as part of a SAYLSA plan to regenerate
the station.
Transport Scotland has given assurances to Peter Duncan Conservative Party Prospective Parliamentary
Candidate for Dumfries & Galloway that they plan to support the Stranraer line. So far there has been no evidence
of this, so we shall see how good their word actually is.
New Stranraer
station - a £7m white elephant?
Plans
are afoot for a new £7m1 rail station at Stranraer but SAYLSA feel this could be a massively expensive white
elephant, as little benefit would flow from its relocation.
The main premise for a move is to be nearer the town
and serve as a transport interchange, but would it? At the current time it is necessary to walk three sides around a
square and across the entrance of the vehicle marshalling area for Stena ferry services. The proposed new station would
be located where the vehicle inspection shed is now. The walk difference is approximately 130m.
With the
vacation of Stena, the marshalling area would no longer exist and the distance reduced to under a 100m and even less with
a proposed new footbridge across the eastern basin, which dries out to mud. SAYLSA want to see the existing station
restored to its former glory in the same manner as has been achieved at Birmingham Moor Street. It could then became
one of the attractors at the new Waterfront Development and cater for tourist trains, which a replacement interchange won't
do.
The existing station could just as easily act as a transport interchange but with wholesale cuts in local
bus service provision and an expected reduction in train services how much interchange will there be? Oban, which is
approximately the same distance from Glasgow by rail and similar in size to Stranraer, has a passenger throughput twice
that of Stranraer yet has 3 train services per day to Stranraer's 7. One has to wonder why SWESTRANS has never
sought a tender to provide a bus service to meet the trains at Stranraer yet wishes to move the station 300-400m to the south
east and for what purpose. People who shop in town will not get on the bus at the new interchange but access buses in
the High Street.
The proposed replacement station will consist of a 6-car length single platform and no facility
to run round a steam special if a Scotrail service is stabled at Stranraer station. There will also be a loss of character,
so that yet another ferry port has the ubiquitous brick shed as a station building with all the charisma of a tyre service
station such as at Oban or Mallaig. Help us campaign to save Britain's oldest harbour station and restore it
to be a beautiful building to be proud of.
1 Network Rail estimate at £6m 2004/5 prices.
Source Network Rail 2005 Management Plan. Figure adjusted to 2010 prices
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