Musings from the Merse
Thursday, January 15, 2009
SIR, - It’s great news that the construction of the Waverley route in the Borders is to be speeded up by at least a year.
writes a Mr Colin Maclean from Embra. And goes on:
However, folk in the east are still waiting for the proposed Edinburgh/Berwick hourly stopping service. This is to provide a local, seven day a week, 18 hours a day, service from Edinburgh serving Longniddry, Dunbar, East Linton and Reston with its abundance of car parking space for an eastern Borders rail parkway. These proposals have been on the cards for years, yet all we get is endless, expensive and time wasting consultation, surveys and meetings.
Pressure must be speedily put on our MSPs and MPs to deliver the railway we all want before our scheme is hijacked into an Edinburgh/Newcastle stopping service. This seems to be the thought in London.
Not many folk wish to travel to Beal, Belford or Widdrington. It’s Edinburgh we all want.
And do 'many folk' not wishing to call at Beal, Belford or Widdrington realy want to be bothered with Reston, East Linton, Dunbar and Longniddry
Especially if
'It's Edinburgh we want'
(The image is of Longniddry Station. Nice name, nice station but nothing to detain us, if it is Embra we want)
Labels: Berwickshire Railway Stations, RAGES, Reston Station
Comments:
Dare I suggest that a stopping service from Newcastle to Edinburgh might actually be a good thing? I mean someone from Chathill may well want to go to Berwick or Dunbar or (gasp) Embra - right now their options are to travel south to Alnmouth for Alnwick and change, travel even further south to Newcastle and change or take the bus/car to Berwick.
I'm all for reopening a station at Reston (I'd have thought Grantshouse might actually be better since the track there is already quadrupled there so the local trains needn't hold up the intercity), East Linton etc - since Berwick & Dunbar have laughable (pay & display) car parking - yet Drem, Longniddry & Prestonpans have excellent (free) car parking and a half-hourly service into Embra.
I'm all for reopening a station at Reston (I'd have thought Grantshouse might actually be better since the track there is already quadrupled there so the local trains needn't hold up the intercity), East Linton etc - since Berwick & Dunbar have laughable (pay & display) car parking - yet Drem, Longniddry & Prestonpans have excellent (free) car parking and a half-hourly service into Embra.
Not a single word on Gaza!? I suppose that living in the Middle East puts a different perspective on what is going on. Rail service from Newcastle to Edinburgh seems so far removed from the slaughter in Palestine. Hearts and minds here can think of nothing else.
Gaza has dominated the national media and there have been protests and demos in Embra and Glasgow with vigils in the Borders and Huttonian has done his bit on BBC Norn Iron as posted earlier. But it is a bit out of the terms of reference of Musings from the Merse but, thanks to your promptings I do feel a blog coming on.
Paper Boy. I am all in favour of trains stopping at a variety of stations if only to get more cars of the road. Even at Longniddery. As long as they don't get in the way of getting to (er,gasp) Embra and on the odd occasion to the Very Big Smoke. So more expresses please
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Paper Boy. I am all in favour of trains stopping at a variety of stations if only to get more cars of the road. Even at Longniddery. As long as they don't get in the way of getting to (er,gasp) Embra and on the odd occasion to the Very Big Smoke. So more expresses please
