Snub for new station 'will not deter village'
A FUNDING application for money to kickstart the hoped-for reopening of Evanton rail station has been rejected, to the frustration of community leaders.
It is unclear, at this stage, why the regional transport body Hitrans’ bid for cash to develop a business case for the station was snubbed by the local rail development fund.
But this week it emerged that Transport Scotland will entertain a fresh application if one is made.
Hitrans had applied for a share of a £2 million pot currently available.
The long campaign to renew rail links has been delayed by the decision but there was an air of resilience at the Ross and Cromarty committee meeting in Dingwall.
The council’s transport planning manager Richard Gerring told councillors that 35 applications were made for various projects across Scotland and 10 were successful.
He said the better news was that not all of the £2m had been awarded and that "there will be more opportunities to either revisit, review or submit a further application".
Councillor Mike Finlayson told committee colleagues that they "knew it wasn’t going to happen overnight".
Committee chairwoman Fiona Robertson said there remained a "clear case" for reopening the station.
Some 16 trains a day currently pass along the Far North Line through Evanton.
Mr Gerring said the Scottish Government’s national transport strategy was currently being reviewed and had slipped by six months, and was now likely to be published in late 2019.
"This is an ideal time to be discussing and debating priorities and infrastructure and anything relating to transport," he said.
"The good news is that certain elements within Ross and Cromarty are identified within regional transport strategy that Hitrans publish, so the process for that is it gets drafted up with the constituent local authorities – Highland Council being one of them – and it then gets submitted to Scottish ministers for approval.
"I don’t believe it’s been approved yet but much of your priorities relevant for Transport Scotland are in that regional transport strategy."
It is understood the government agency Transport Scotland will discuss Evanton’s situation at a meeting next week.
Mr Gerring added that he had gleaned from a recent workshop that "funding for railway infrastructure seems to be reducing".
He said he asked for a percentage to put things into context but "they did the civil servant thing and didn’t answer the question".
A Transport Scotland spokesman told the Ross-shire Journal: "We were able to offer 10 Local Rail Development Fund grants and welcomed the high levels of interest from communities interested in seeing rail services developed locally.
"We fully understand those who missed out on this round of funding will be disappointed and so we would urge unsuccessful applicants to contact us for feedback on their submission.
"Timescales for the next round of funding will be announced in the coming weeks."
The station at Evanton was originally opened in May 1863 when it was known as Novar. It was renamed Evanton in 1937 and closed to passengers in 1960.
Goods train facilities were withdrawn in November 1964.