I agree with all of these routes, I think the missing regional routes as just as important as the high speed section in allowing for even better stopping services between the 2 big cities, Perth especially should be a major rail hub with strategic connections designed to take pressure off of Queen Street. But the same could be said about both Stirling and Dundee. Aberdeen should also be more of a regional hub and it could be argued the railway needs to be restored to Braemar and Ballater as well, the bus timetable suggests it's a busy route. The buses to Peterhead and Fraserburgh are extremely busy and suggests a rail link is desperately needed. Every Scottish city needs trams too, especially the wider Strathclyde region. Also, I hope you will do maps like this for England and Wales. It'd be interesting to see what you make of the gaps in the south and west of England or how you'd tackle connecting North and South Wales. Living in Hertfordshire in the south east, all the railways go to London with nothing across, most of the towns from Harlow to Hemel Hempstead have gaps of only 3 to 5 miles between each, surely ideal for a metro of sorts cutting across the county, but maybe a busway would be enough if it was fully integrated with trains. We definitely need something, traffic is a real problem here and even the limited stop buses are too slow. Also, nearly finished your book, really enjoyed it but thoroughly loved your description of New Street, couldn't stop laughing as it was so true and how not to build a major rail station.
@@aaronsmith9209 oh we've already done Wales! and the main output was the Dragon Line north-south... and we'll be working our way through England region by region
@GarethDennisTV Yeah I see them now (episodes 57 and 116), I hadn't heard of you when you made those episodes so I'll go through those soon. I think any improvement in Wales would mean being able to get from south to north without having to go into England on at least 2 different lines. The current railways seem to make Wales quite dependent on England. And even though the population is low in mid and north Wales, traffic can be similar to how you describe around Loch Ness at times. Shows how inefficient private transport really is.
i am canadian, i grew up in a city with zero passenger rail, and am unlikely to find myself in scotland, but good golly gee i do enjoy listening to this
I'm thinking it would good for direct links between Glasgow-Fife as there is demand via bus services. Much of this could be done on existing links either via Alloa or Falkirk and the chord to the Forth Bridge. Also what would be needed to increase the frequency of fife services? How much of a bottleneck is the Forth Bridge?
Interesting! Surprised about the doubt about need for Dunfermline - Perth direct link. Only way to make Edinburgh Inverness day return work for some just now is to drive to dunkeld and catch an Inverness train there. Plus Stirling to Dunfermline is hopeless. Quicker to cycle along the old railway than train via haymarket Both these strategic links were not listed for closure in Beeching
@@angusswanson5984 It's one of those where I can't instantly say (without day job level analysis) that you could never achieve the same with serious upgrades to the existing lines either side... Doesn't mean I'm dismissing it entirely though.
Question regarding the Ullapool connection, might it be possible to use the chance to create a new route between Dingwall and Garve via Strathpeffer to connect them to the rail map? Would right a wrong which almost happened were it not for landowners of the day.
@GarethDennisTV there was the former branch to Strathpeffer which not only survives but also is neatly straight and flat and ideally if you were going to make it a diversion route to Grave, use the chance to replace the track with welded flat bottom rails and maybe upgrade the axel load if, dare I say, Ullapool can be used for freight. Another question regarding the Fraserburgh line is would that have double track sections like the Borders line and if so where would they be as I'm trying to work out a timetable for that line.
you for got to connect the south the end of edinburgh millerhill fright yard to just south of dunbar so long distance fright train dio not have to go thouht dunbar station anymore maybe with a junction north of dunbar too fo to cut the corer off the east coast main line like they did with the slby cutoff.
@ I read it and thought it was brilliant, it would be good to contrast your plan with the metro scheme for comparison or to learn more about what Edinburgh is planning. We can only hope in the next twenty years that Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow all have their mass transit plans fulfilled…
"Improved core speeds that railways provide"? I missed a train at Aberdeen when dropping someone off going to London because of an accident at Balmedie. Average speed cameras South of Aberdeen and I still caught the train up. Honestly it's easier and quicker to meet the train at Stonehaven when coming from North of Aberdeen. You want to achieve something - get Dyce station to link to Dyce airport. Something it's not done since 1981. Fraserburgh line was closed in 1979, post oil, utterly criminal, but honestly just dual the road and put on electric buses.
@GarethDennisTV merely pointing out that we don't really have "intercity" services in Scotland. We have local trains that happen to go between cities. They're not faster than going by road unless you're travelling between city centres, or the road is hampered by not being dualled in large parts. People like their cars. They go door to door, not city centre to city centre.
Great episode! Looking forward to a North East England version of this!
I agree with all of these routes, I think the missing regional routes as just as important as the high speed section in allowing for even better stopping services between the 2 big cities, Perth especially should be a major rail hub with strategic connections designed to take pressure off of Queen Street. But the same could be said about both Stirling and Dundee. Aberdeen should also be more of a regional hub and it could be argued the railway needs to be restored to Braemar and Ballater as well, the bus timetable suggests it's a busy route. The buses to Peterhead and Fraserburgh are extremely busy and suggests a rail link is desperately needed. Every Scottish city needs trams too, especially the wider Strathclyde region.
Also, I hope you will do maps like this for England and Wales. It'd be interesting to see what you make of the gaps in the south and west of England or how you'd tackle connecting North and South Wales. Living in Hertfordshire in the south east, all the railways go to London with nothing across, most of the towns from Harlow to Hemel Hempstead have gaps of only 3 to 5 miles between each, surely ideal for a metro of sorts cutting across the county, but maybe a busway would be enough if it was fully integrated with trains. We definitely need something, traffic is a real problem here and even the limited stop buses are too slow. Also, nearly finished your book, really enjoyed it but thoroughly loved your description of New Street, couldn't stop laughing as it was so true and how not to build a major rail station.
@@aaronsmith9209 oh we've already done Wales! and the main output was the Dragon Line north-south... and we'll be working our way through England region by region
@GarethDennisTV Yeah I see them now (episodes 57 and 116), I hadn't heard of you when you made those episodes so I'll go through those soon. I think any improvement in Wales would mean being able to get from south to north without having to go into England on at least 2 different lines. The current railways seem to make Wales quite dependent on England. And even though the population is low in mid and north Wales, traffic can be similar to how you describe around Loch Ness at times. Shows how inefficient private transport really is.
edinburgh already has a tram.
Peterhead is Europe's biggest fishing port.
i am canadian, i grew up in a city with zero passenger rail, and am unlikely to find myself in scotland, but good golly gee i do enjoy listening to this
recently visited Scotland and was extremely jealous i long for the days when the south west has so much electrification and frequency.
I know looks can be deceptive but 15 % doesn't feel like a huge increase given it's a century long change
road can m be much steeper then rail line can be.
the frazerbugh brach should be twined with a new de valley lin so very few late evening /early morning trains toend in aberdeen.
I'm thinking it would good for direct links between Glasgow-Fife as there is demand via bus services. Much of this could be done on existing links either via Alloa or Falkirk and the chord to the Forth Bridge. Also what would be needed to increase the frequency of fife services? How much of a bottleneck is the Forth Bridge?
why no passenger conection to aberdeen po ferry port.
Interesting! Surprised about the doubt about need for Dunfermline - Perth direct link. Only way to make Edinburgh Inverness day return work for some just now is to drive to dunkeld and catch an Inverness train there.
Plus Stirling to Dunfermline is hopeless. Quicker to cycle along the old railway than train via haymarket
Both these strategic links were not listed for closure in Beeching
@@angusswanson5984 It's one of those where I can't instantly say (without day job level analysis) that you could never achieve the same with serious upgrades to the existing lines either side... Doesn't mean I'm dismissing it entirely though.
how far is inverness from Glasgow/Edinburgh would a straighter tunnel rich freight line make sense
Question regarding the Ullapool connection, might it be possible to use the chance to create a new route between Dingwall and Garve via Strathpeffer to connect them to the rail map? Would right a wrong which almost happened were it not for landowners of the day.
@@QTXAdsy I'd have to have a look!
@GarethDennisTV there was the former branch to Strathpeffer which not only survives but also is neatly straight and flat and ideally if you were going to make it a diversion route to Grave, use the chance to replace the track with welded flat bottom rails and maybe upgrade the axel load if, dare I say, Ullapool can be used for freight.
Another question regarding the Fraserburgh line is would that have double track sections like the Borders line and if so where would they be as I'm trying to work out a timetable for that line.
you for got to connect the south the end of edinburgh millerhill fright yard to just south of dunbar so long distance fright train dio not have to go thouht dunbar station anymore maybe with a junction north of dunbar too fo to cut the corer off the east coast main line like they did with the slby cutoff.
why did Edinburgh - Carlisle direct line exist and is kinda fanous but the much bigger Newcastle - Glasgow d never got much press if it did ene exist.
I can't find episode 65. Do you have a link for it.
@@HywelapDafydd ua-cam.com/users/livey2v846_jqwc?si=Oph8ioBmGgPcLnTt
You should looks at mass transit options for Glasgow Edinburgh and Aberdeen, they are transport Scotland strategic projects…
@@gorgu08 I've done Glasgow already, it's in the Bell if you want to read but also I'll do an episode on it soon. Others will follow
@ I read it and thought it was brilliant, it would be good to contrast your plan with the metro scheme for comparison or to learn more about what Edinburgh is planning. We can only hope in the next twenty years that Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow all have their mass transit plans fulfilled…
"Improved core speeds that railways provide"?
I missed a train at Aberdeen when dropping someone off going to London because of an accident at Balmedie. Average speed cameras South of Aberdeen and I still caught the train up. Honestly it's easier and quicker to meet the train at Stonehaven when coming from North of Aberdeen.
You want to achieve something - get Dyce station to link to Dyce airport. Something it's not done since 1981.
Fraserburgh line was closed in 1979, post oil, utterly criminal, but honestly just dual the road and put on electric buses.
@@grahamleiper1538 not sure you paid much attention to the episode given you're describing what I explained needed resolving
@GarethDennisTV merely pointing out that we don't really have "intercity" services in Scotland. We have local trains that happen to go between cities. They're not faster than going by road unless you're travelling between city centres, or the road is hampered by not being dualled in large parts.
People like their cars. They go door to door, not city centre to city centre.