Some great news for North East rail services with a hourly local commuter service to be introduced in 2018/19 between Montrose and Inverurie – but it is bitter sweet for Portlethen as Glasgow trains would no longer stop here. There is also the possibility of added local stations. Newtonhill?

The news comes in correspondence from the transport minister to the North East transport partnership Nestrans (I am a substitute member of the board).

Here is what Nestrans director Derick Murray has to say:

“This letter is confirming a range of improvements to rail services across Scotland that will be introduced in 2018/19. When the current intercity fleet is replaced with refurbished High Speed Trains, Scotrail will be extending the lease on some of the replaced trains. This will allow these trains to be redeployed across the country.

“For us in the north east this means:

• Improved services to Inverness with some of the trains coming from Edinburgh/ Glasgow through Aberdeen to Inverness
• The introduction of a “local” rail service between Inverurie and Montrose stopping at all stations
• Reduced journey times to Edinburgh/ Glasgow with limited stopping.

“This improvement will provide for a half hourly service from Inverurie to Aberdeen. Completion of the upgrade of the Aberdeen to Inverurie line will help facilitate this.

“We understand that this ‘local’ service plus some of the Inverness services will be delivered by refurbished class 158 trains which will be stabled/ maintained at Elgin resulting in new early and late trains between Elgin/ Aberdeen. Although perhaps not the best trains these refurbished vehicles should deliver these shorter journeys adequately. As we understand it half of the Inverness trains will be the refurbished High Speed Trains.

“Scotrail do not yet have fully worked up timetables for these changes. We will be discussing the development of the timetable with them as it progresses. They have indicated that their intention is to have, as far as possible, a clock face timetable meaning that if your train is due at 17 mins past the hour it should generally be at 17 mins past every hour. Details of this are still in preparation.

“Whilst this is generally very good news for rail travel in our area there is likely to be some loss of service to permit the advantages of the new proposal. For example direct travel from Portlethen to Glasgow may not be possible (due to the fast trains no longer stopping at “local” stations) but the provision of the local service should make this journey with a change easier than the current service. Overall the changes will benefit significantly more people than any loses of service. Stations to the south of Aberdeen will now be connected together by the local service – something not generally allowed for in the current timetable.

“An additional benefit will be our ability to consider the possibility of new local stations. The extent to which new stations could be accommodated will be partially driven by the timetable that is produced. We will be pursuing this as more details are known.

“This is confirmation of the improvement we hinted we thought may be coming when we discussed rail issues at the last Board. It is a significant change to rail delivery in our area and across Scotland. Overall, it is a significant improvement to services. We will be happy to discuss the improvements, as we understand them at this stage in their development, should you have any queries. It’s nice commenting on good news!”