On going work between Gleneagles station and Dunblane?

[Gadget88]

I seen on going work on the line near a small town between Gleneagles and Dunblane is it a new railway station? If not is there a demand for a station in that area?

 

[backontrack]

The only villages I can think of on that stretch are Kinbuck, Greenloaning and Blackford.

There has been some talk of reopening Blackford station; here's a Daily Record article from 2009;
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/campaign-reopen-blackford-train-station-2750742

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to reopen a railway station which could ease parking problems in Dunblane say their case has been strengthened by transport studies.

The Blackford station proposal was all but written off by the Tay Estuary Rail Study/Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership document, which said Gleneagles station is best placed for future rail use.

But the Campaign to Open Blackford Railway Station Again (Cobra) says there are weaknesses in the findings and that costing for reopening the station has been overstated.

It also says hat Gleneagles, which currently carries around 27,500 passengers annually, has poor access roads from Blackford and Auchterarder and no bus service.

Tactran said reopening Blackford would cost around £4.5 million, compared with £3.75 million to upgrade Gleneagles, but Cobra puts the figure at £1.5-2 million.

Cobra also said that the position of the former station in Blackford is safer and more accessible than Gleneagles.

It has appealed to the Scottish Government to keep open a petition it raised, based on these responses.

Here's the Courier and Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition) in 2012, this time talking about freight at Blackford;
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-...d-perthshire-edition/20120305/282531540336755

Proposals to bring defunct train station back into use

• The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
• 5 Mar 2012
• by Sandra Gray

A train rockets through what remains of Blackford railway station.
(Picture: Steve MacDougall)
AN INNOVATIVE trial could see trains stopping in a Perthshire village for the first time in over 50 years.

Plans are in place to use sidings near Blackford railway station as a distribution point for Highland Spring, using a specialist crane to lift containers onto trains.

A feasibility study carried out by the firm in 2009 revealed that having the ability to load trains near their premises could take 16 lorries off the road each day.

Currently, stock is taken from Blackford to three locations in the central belt — Coatbridge, Grangemouth and Bellshill — before being loaded onto trains and transported down south.

Highland Spring logistics manager Daniel Muir said: “We have been working on plans for the trial for about three or four months.

“One of our haulage partners suggested it and has really taken the lead in discussions with Network Rail.

“We hope to carry out a trial in the next four to eight weeks.”

The proposals were unveiled by chief executive Les Montgomery during the AGM of the Campaign to Open Blackford Railway station Again (COBRA).

He did, however, urge members to treat the news with caution as there is no guarantee that the plans will become permanent.

A long-term facility is dependent on the Freight Facilities Grant (FFG), a Scottish Government scheme which pays for up to 75% of the cost of new rail works, continuing.

Although the FFG was set to be scrapped in 2011, £7.25m of funding was secured to allow it to continue until 2014.

To secure a grant Highland Spring must enter a bid round system and meet strict criteria, which requires any work to be completed by March 31, 2015, if successful.

The cost of restoring the siding must also fall within the allocated budget each year, which will be £750,000 for the 2012/ 2013 period, rising to £2 million the following year and £4.5 million in 2014/2015.

COBRA chairman Neil Gaunt said: “We definitely welcome the news.

“Any use for the derelict railway siding would be a good thing, as it is giving activity to the yard.

“The proposed local development plan has just the site kept as railway land and this just fits in with that.”

Mr Gaunt added: “Before the war, there was a guaranteed overnight delivery anywhere in the UK for freight trains.

“There is no reason we can’t get back to that again and that was back when there were eight sta- tions between Perth and Dunblane.”

Local councillor Murray Lyle said: “I think it’s a brilliant initiative and long overdue.

“I hope it proves that creating a permanent loading structure would be worthwhile.”

Blackford station rolls around every now and again. Coverage about it is always quite fitful - it's not a station reopening that's mentioned as much as, say, Beattock or Robroyston - and it's behind Dunfermline-Perth, Newburgh, Oudernarde, Ninewells (Dundee West) and Errol in terms of projects for Tayside Regional Council and for TAYplan.

Perhaps it's just lineside work?

 

[computerSaysNo]

I heard that a new siding is being put in to serve the Highland Spring water factory near Blackford, the work could have been to do with this?

 

[DuncanS]

The new siding is indeed why the work is being done - weekends until the end of the month. Rail replacement buses between Stirling and Perth.