Investment in Anglo-Scottish Rail Links
We want to see a programme of improvements to Anglo-Scottish rail links with the specific aim of making substantial reductions in the number of flights between the Central Scotland airports and London.
The currently unsustainable numbers of flights from the Scottish Central Belt to London should be replaced by a programme of investment in Anglo-Scottish rail links. We take the view that this can be accomplished through a programme of incremental improvements, but that there should also be consideration of the merits of a stand-alone high-speed line from London northwards, providing journey time improvements for trips from Scotland to the south of England and onwards to the continent.
Airport expansion at Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports would simply not be necessary if the vast majority of internal flights between the central Scotland airports to London (in the order of 100 flights per day) were switched to rail. A programme of air-rail substitution would in itself remove much of the necessity for expansion of these airports in the short- to medium-term. In the longer-term, even the current levels of aviation are deeply incompatible with requirements to reduce all carbon emissions by 80% by 2050, let alone planning for increases in the numbers of flights.
Given the large amount of domestic aviation from Edinburgh and Glasgow airports, a shift to rail would allow both airports to be kept within their current boundaries, thus avoiding the conflict associated with airports expanding beyond their boundaries.