Yesterday two Network Rail managers spoke to Aberdeenshire Council’s infrastructure services committee about improvements to local services. So I grabbed the opportunity to press the case for more local stations, especially Newtonhill.
Kintore station is due to reopen next year as part of the Aberdeen/Inverness improvements, as is a station at Dalcross serving Inverness Airport.
Network Rail is reinstating a double track along much of the 108 mile route so that quicker, more regular services can be provided. At the moment the journey takes at best 2 hours 20 minutes.
From May until August this year services from the north will terminate at Dyce with buses every 10 minutes to the city centre. In 2019 there will be a further 14 week closure between Dyce and Inverurie as track work progresses. Again buses will be provided.
The aim is for a half-hourly rail service between Aberdeen and Inverurie in 2019, combined with an hourly Aberdeen/Montrose service to provide a crossrail service.
Councillors heard that the timetable needs a radical overhaul, and that this will be phase one of the improvements.