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Conon Bridge and Muir of Ord on track for rail use rise as commuter belt impact drives growth


By Philip Murray

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Kate Forbes MSP
Kate Forbes MSP

GROWING commuter numbers may be helping to drive rail passenger number increases at some Ross villages, a local MSP believes.

Kate Forbes was speaking after the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) published its latest annual report into passengers numbers at Scotland's stations.

The figures, which covered the 2019/20 financial year, showed that passenger numbers were up by 2.8 per cent (to 18,022 passengers per year) in Conon Bridge, and 4.9 per cent (to 70,850 passengers) in Muir of Ord.

Many Scottish stations posted minor falls, owing to the initial effects of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, which coincided with the final weeks of the financial year.

But Ms Forbes said she was optimistic of "further improvements" to Ross passenger numbers when "normality returns" and believes rises in Conon Bridge and Muir of Ord may be driven by new homes and commuter numbers.

Mr Forbes, whose Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch constituency covers the Black Isle and parts of Ross-shire, said: “Timing-wise the annual figures are recorded similar to the financial year, so understandably the impact of Covid on passenger numbers will have been felt over the last few weeks of that period.

“Most – but not all – train stations across my constituency experienced a slight fall, and that appears to be the general trend across Scotland.

“That all said, it’s very encouraging to see more people using the train from Conon Bridge and also Muir of Ord. There has been a lot of new housing in both areas, so perhaps they are becoming commuter belts for both Inverness and Dingwall.

“I hope that when normality returns, we will see further improvements to the Kyle and Far North lines.”

Dingwall (-1.5 per cent), Beauly (-3/6 per cent) and Inverness (-2.3 per cent) all posted minor falls in passenger numbers, as too did Kyle of Lochalsh – which was down .4.7 per cent (to 57,786 passengers last year).

But numerous other Kyle Line stations saw increases, including Plockton (up 1.2 per cent for 11,616 overall passengers), Stromeferry (up 18.4 per cent for 1508 passengers), Duncraig (3.3 up per cent for 500 passengers) and Duirinish (up 2.6 per cent for 878 passengers).

Related: Highlands has least-used railway station – and it's in Ross-shire


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