10
Reasons why
St Andrews needs its railway back.
1. It is the Home of
Golf, and as such
hosts various tournaments every year, such as the Dunhill
Championship, and the Spring and September R & A
competitions. St Andrews has also staged the Curtis Cup and
the Women's British Open. Which leads to:
2. The Open. This is 'only' a quinquennial visit,
despite the expressed desires of various foreign golfers,
but the event strains the town's infrastructure, in
particular the roads. As far back as 1989 the Chair of the
Scottish Tourist Board expressed his concerns to the
District Council and asked if it would be possible to
restore the railway so that the town could cope more easily
with such large events. Since then, the Open has become a
much larger event.
3. It is a major tourist
destination, appearing
in the top 10 VisitScotland destinations (7th), the top
Scottish Enterprise destination and most recently in the
Trip Advisor top ten (9th) UK destinations. In each list it
was the only destination without a railway station. A
further recent attraction may be:
4. The Royal
Connection. It is
anticipated that visits to St Andrews will be increased by
the connection with Prince William and Kate Middleton, now
the Earl & Countess of Strathearn, who met while
students at:
5. The University of St
Andrews. Scotland's
oldest university is regularly ranked highly in performance
tables, yet is the only Scottish university town without a
station and one of only a handful of British ones not on
the rail network (Keele, Cranfield, Buckingham and
Lampeter). Furthermore, St Andrews is celebrating its
sexacentenary and as such will attract many more visitors
than usual. During the 500th anniversary, special trains
were run so that as many alumni as possible could visit,
when the University was very much smaller than it now is.
6. Other events which attract significant numbers of
visitors are Festivals
such as the St Andrew's
Festival and Stanza, also the centuries-old Lammas Market,
during which extra trains used to be run. Next year there
will also be the inaugural Festival of Golf. All of these
mean more traffic coming into town by road.
7. We haven't even mentioned the local people yet but there
are around 20000 residents
of St Andrews, including the
students, making it one of the largest settlements in
Scotland without a railway line. The Association of Train
Operating Companies recently set out criteria for new
railway stations, one of which was a population of 15000,
and that was without any other factors, such as the
above-mentioned, which would also be qualifying criteria.
8. A significant percentage of the inhabitants are
Commuters
to other towns. Many more
people travel into St Andrews every day. The increasing
number of these daily car-journeys makes the A91 between
Guardbridge and St Andrews the busiest road in North East
Fife and if there are any problems on the roads, a jam very
quickly occurs. Any extra traffic heading to St Andrews for
a particular event or on public holidays has an effect
which can be felt as far back down the road as Cupar. This
high car use is prone to cause congestion in the town, thus
putting pressure on:
9. Car Parking
space. The design of the
town, with its mediaeval layout, does not lend itself to
large car-parks, and therefore space is limited. The large
number of parked cars is an unsightly blight on the amenity
of the town centre, yet understandably there is great
resistance to reducing this.
10. Last but by no means least is the effect upon
the Environment.
Offering the option of a railway into town would result in
a significant reduction in carbon emissions, as trains are
the most efficient means of transport to move large numbers
of people. It has been found that a rail option can attract
70% of car users, and this is borne out by the Starlink
surveys which found that 72-73% of visitors who had driven
to St Andrews would be willing to use a train.
