North East transport partnership Nestrans has submitted a case for change report about possible improvements to transport links in the Aberdeen to Laurencekirk corridor.

The report considers that there is a rationale for looking in more detail at a new station at Newtonhill, alongside a broad range of other possible interventions. This view has been endorsed by the board of Nestrans.

Nestrans officers tell me that both the case for change work and consultation work notes that whilst there is support for looking at a new station, there “is also some opposition to it, and we believe that this is a fair summation of the situation”.

“Future work would have to undertake an assessment of the cost, benefits, impacts, deliverability, and effectiveness of the proposals, to provide a factual basis upon which to base any future recommendations, noting that the development of the rail network is ultimately in the control of Transport Scotland and Network Rail.”

In other words, more work to be done to establish whether it is a good idea to re-open Newtonhill station.

Meantime both the consultation report and case for change report have now been finalised and issued to Transport Scotland for review and comment. Both are published on the Nestrans website. https://www.nestrans.org.uk/projects/rail/documents-rail/