The 24-year-long journey to the anticipated December opening of the new Inverness Airport Railway Station is almost finished — and champagne corks will soon be popping at Frank Roach’s house.
The partnership manager at the Hitrans regional transport group was just 41 when he started steaming ahead for a new train station next to the airport on the Inverness to Aberdeen railway line.
And now, days after celebrating his 65th birthday, the transport chief is counting down the days until the £42 million work on the new station and its infrastructure is complete.
Once it’s open, passengers travelling from Inverness can catch a train before catching a plane, and get to and from the airport more efficiently.
Barring any unforeseen problems, Network Rail anticipates the new station will be completed “by the end of the year, and we will be able to confirm a date in due course”.
What benefits will the new Inverness Airport Railway Station bring?
The new station has been designed to improve connectivity for local residents and the wider Inverness area by providing a sustainable transport interchange at the airport.
But it is also expected to bring additional benefits to the region.
Frank says another “real bonus” is that it allows the opportunity for Norbord, now part of West Fraser, to build its own railway terminal for its nearby mill — known locally as the cloud factory — just outside Inverness.
This would allow the company to take 50% of its laden lorries off the road.
Frank says its “up to Norbord now to decide whether they want to develop a terminal, but obviously, one hopes they will be taking advantage of it”.
A spokesman for the firm said: “If this project goes ahead it will reduce our carbon footprint significantly and will also remove a large number of lorries from the A9.”
The new station is also close to the Inverness Airport Business Park and the new fast-growing Tornagrain community, where 5,000 homes are being built.
And those living in the town will have easier access to train journeys.
New station could be second-busiest in the Highlands
The new station is a 500 yard walk from Inverness Airport’s terminal building.
However, a half-hourly fare-paying shuttle-bus will run between the railway station and the airport terminal.
The new station will be the Highland’s second busiest if predictions and modelling suggesting a 400,000 footfall (by 2075) are accurate.
It includes 7,000 metres of new rail, 10,000 tonnes of ballast from nearby Forres, a 950 metre track loop allowing trains to pass each other at the station, 3,000 sleepers, and 37,000 metres of innovative fibre-optic signal cabling.
Inverness Airport Railway Station was a 24-year ‘waiting game’
Titanic dominated the Oscars and Beckham was putting a ring on Posh Spice when Frank put his proposal for an Inverness Airport Railway Station to Highlands and Islands Airports Limited for the first time in 1998.
He said the scheme was a “waiting game” due to local money lacking to get it funded.
The Scottish Government had to step in with funding, which rolls out only once every five years.
‘Press and Journal kept chasing”
Frank has been tidying up his 24 year’s worth of paperwork and files ahead of the opening.
He said: “I found various P&J front pages looking through my old files yesterday, there’s quite a few story cuttings from the P&J that I’ve gathered over the years, all asking “what’s the delay?”.
“But you have to be patient, these things take time, and you have to keep doing bits of work to move the project on – but it will be good to see it open.”
Why are line-side residents unhappy?
However, not everyone is ready to celebrate the new railway station
Some residents along the railway line at nearby Petty complain they are living next to a construction site and they are angry that trees screening their homes from the track were felled.
The closure of Petty Level Crossing, the removal of a gate crossing at Woodend and the installation of a footbridge at Petty which crosses the Inverness to Aberdeen railway line and replaces the level crossing, has also caused anger because it does not cater for wheelchair-users.
Apology comes down the line from Network Rail
Culloden and Ardersier councillor Trish Robertson said: “The way the residents have been treated is horrendous.
“There has been no consideration for the people during the construction. There’s five families stuck there dealing with the whole thing.”
Network Rail said it was impossible to retain the level crossing while also upgrading the line, and a ramp was explored as part of the planning application stage for the bridge but concerns were raised about the size of the structure and the need to remove more trees.
A spokesman added: “We always try to engage positively with its lineside neighbours and apologise to any members of the local community who feel we have not communicated effectively with them on this project.”
Conversation