There continues to be many people in the city who wish to see use made of the South Suburban line for local travel. I am encouraged by the Facebook group ((3) Reopen Edinburgh Suburban & South Side Railway (Edinburgh’s lost ⭕️ line) | Facebook) which sprang up a few years’ ago and by the more recent proposal from a group of civil engineering master’s students at Heriot-Watt University ((3) Corey Boyle | Facebook).
If we are to reach the city centre via Haymarket then the only realistic solution is one utilising tram-trains – this allows us to make use of the tram tracks which parallel the congested rail lines between Waverley and Haymarket, this congestion being one of the main obstacles over the years to the re-instatement of local passenger travel on the South Sub.
Reaching the city centre from the east via Portobello potentially presents both heavy and light rail options – but, of course, tram-trains can work with either option, as well as on-road.
There’s plenty of capacity on the South Sub itself to handle much more traffic – both freight and passenger. Albeit that the signalling would need to be upgraded. Any rail line worth its salt should be able to handle a train or tram-train every 3 or 4 minutes, after all.
There are lots of other details which would need to be addressed – but there does now seem to be more solid political support to see movement on this issue and Network Rail have also indicated their willingness to discuss this.
Lawrence Marshall
Chair
Capital Rail Action Group
mobile: 07841 269640
website: Capital Rail Action Group – Campaigning for better public transport for Edinburgh
Facebook: (10) Capital Rail Action Group | Facebook