A PROGRAMME OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IS BEING PURSUED ON SCOTLAND’S LONG RURAL ROUTES, REPORTS JAMES ABBOTT
Scotland's Highland rail routes are famous the world over. The Harry Potter steam train, the Highland Sleeper, the Road to the Isles: these romantic images resonate with a wide audience. They help to draw in the tourists, underlining the role of the Highland routes as bastions of the rural economy as well as essential travel lifelines. Systra estimates that over the UK as a whole, tourism by rail has increased by 30% in the last 10 years, generating £510 million for the economy: a substantial part of that will have been spent in Scotland.
Transport Scotland and the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership (HITRANS, a consortium of local authorities) are keen to develop the Highland lines and are drawing up plans to improve them in the post-Covid era. Staycationing has served them well in this year’s difficult summer: the ‘Jacobite’ steam operation on the West Highland extension has been one of the beneficiaries of the trend, with two trains a day until the end of September.
WEST HIGHLANDS
Glenfinnan Viaduct on the Mallaig route pulls in photographers for iconic shots of the Hogwarts Express,…
