A £200 million project to speed up rail journey times by 24 minutes between Aberdeen and the central belt has received just £6.5m in the five years since it was promised.
The sum amounts to just over 3% of the overall funding promised as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal in 2016, prompting calls to speed up progress.
Scottish Government agency Transport Scotland earmarked 2026 for completion of the overall project – a decade since the announcement was first made.
SNP Transport Secretary Jenny Gilruth revealed the small spending levels after questions were raised about progress for north-east rail passengers.
Soaring capital costs with rising inflation were blamed – but the government repeated its commitment to finishing the scheme in four years.
Ms Gilruth said work had finished on the design and development of infrastructure along the route.
Survey, site and grounds investigations have been carried out and an outline business case is ready.
Ms Gilruth said: “There has already been a number of improvements in recent years to the capability of the Aberdeen to central belt route, including signal alterations in the Aberdeen area to create additional capacity.”
Proposals to revamp the Usan junction, the last single-track stretch on the East Coast line, were first unveiled in 2008 by the SNP government.
But these initial plans to upgrade this stretch were ditched after it emerged it would save just two minutes in journey time.
Delays to delivery
A Scotland’s Railway report compiled by Network Rail stated it will now be August 2023 before any projects are “approved in principle” and December 2026 for delivery — 10 years after the latest city deal announcement.
North-east Tory MSP Liam Kerr asked Ms Gilruth at Holyrood to confirm how much had been spent to date and details of any improvements that have been achieved.
Mr Kerr said: “The most recent updates from the SNP transport secretary says that money will all be spent by the end of 2026 – conveniently after the next Holyrood election.
“But going by the current rate of spending, it would take 180 years for the Scottish Government to have fully cracked their wallet.
“The project already missed its first milestone last summer.
“The people of the north-east expected a 20-minute reduction in journey times as it was promised, and promised again and again by various SNP government ministers.”
Tories ‘pulled the plug’
A spokesman for Ms Gilruth played up her north-east background and attacked the local Conservative record.
“The Tories do have a legacy to defend in the north-east – they pulled the plug on £1 billion of carbon capture investment for Peterhead in 2015 and in 2021 they walked away from funding for Aberdeen, which instead has flowed to sites in England,” the spokesman said.
“Meantime the Scottish Government has contributed £379m in funding to the Aberdeen City Region deal – compared to just £125m from the UK Government.
“The financial incompetence of Mr Kerr’s party has undoubtedly impacted the progress of a number of planned projects where capital costs have soared thanks to rising inflation, largely engineered by ineptitude within Mr Kerr’s own party ranks.
“Irrespective of the deeply challenging context we are working in, the Scottish Government will get on with delivering the promised reduction in rail journey times for the people of the north-east, in line with the 2026 commitment.”