Highland MPS calls for rail funding in the north to help on Far North and Kyle Lines and Highland main line
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FOLLOWING news that the Scotland to Northern Ireland bridge will now not go ahead, Highland SNP MSP Emma Roddick has called for the cash to be spent on railway lines in the north.
The bridge was abandoned amid cost concerns – estimated at up to £20 billion – prompting Ms Roddick to call for the cash to go on rail improvements that target net zero.
She said: “The cost of the ‘Boris Bridge’ was estimated at around £20 billion. If this funding was reallocated on a pro-rata basis between Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Highland Council area would receive over £639 million in transport funding.
“This could go a long way towards funding a number of projects that would serve communities across the Highlands, be they installing a railway loop at Lentran, doubling the Highland Main Line and the Inverness-Aberdeen railway or fully electrifying all our railways.
“Mr Johnson was willing to allocate funding to an impossible bridge – why not allocate some funding to improving railway lines that already exist instead?”
