Today, @scotgp have released their #RailForAll policy paper on a possible rail strategy for Scotland, and it is actually very good indeed.

It is a bold and technically literate document that I am fully behind, despite some minor gripes/omissions. Let's take a look... https://twitter.com/JohnFinnieHI/status/1349269795133337600

My first reaction?

@scotgp have done a better job than I ever could to highlight how untenable @TheGreenParty's anti-rail stance is. Honestly, they have written it specifically to embarrass the GPEW. It's terrific.

Just look at the opening paragraph:

FYI, the Scottish Greens ( @scotgp) are a completely separate party from the Green Party of England and Wales ( @TheGreenParty or GPEW) - only @scotgp have experience in national government, and it shows in their competence.

Some more shade on their opposition to HS2:

Anyway, on to the detail… I'm going to go through it all fairly quickly, as I think the paper merits a page-turn Q&A (which I will do on next week's #RailNatter).

It is broken into 11 themes, ranging from intercity to local and freight interventions.

The first is on overarching governance. They've nailed it:

streamlining decision-making and rebalancing STAG towards low carbon transport;
bringing track owner and train operator together;
taking party politics out of it; and
establish a dedicated government team.

Next up is the bit that is grabbing all the headlines: the intercity upgrades, not least the new Forth tunnel between Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy, including a Leith underground station.

This is both a really good idea and an eminently achievable one.

Leith is as good a place as any to build/launch TMBs, being port-served and with plenty of brownfield about.

We've dug tunnels under the Forth for centuries. We've even dug tunnels from one shore to the other: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/scotland-blog/2014/apr/30/scotland-firthofforth-coal

Not only would this reduce long-distance journey times north of Edinburgh by bypassing a really messy, congested and slow bit of railway, but it would free up capacity for more services to run to the local stations along the Fife coast.

I'm all for it.

The other proposals for long distance upgrades are sensible too, albeit not as headline-grabbing. The wording is all very sensible and realistic.

The entry for the Highland Main Line is a good example:

The next section is on regional services, and the report again shows how it is based on a solid understanding of the interaction between the different types of rail services, and indeed between infrastructure and operations.

The same goes for the sections on rural routes and some sensible proposals for tram-train in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee (Glasgow deserves better than tram-train though, in my eyes).

One of my favourite parts (other than the GPEW-bashing) is the approach to "reopening" lines - they don't propose to do any.

Instead, they state a method for determining need - towns with a 5000+ population should have a station - and leave the solution open-ended.

This is precisely the approach that @PermanentRail will be using later on this year when we publish some fun tools showing where the gaps in the GB rail network are… More on that later!

Freight and electrification get sections of their own. Acceleration of the uptake of both is proposed. Nothing contentious here, and the wording is supportive of current electrification goals whilst calling for more ambition…

They then talk about costs… There's not much to say on this other than THIS IS COMPLETELY AFFORDABLE. Even if it ends up costing more, it is a no-brainer.

To be explicit: this averages at £1.1bn a year. Peanuts.

p.s. the Tay Bridge is getting a replacement

What's more, unlike @TheGreenParty, the @scotgp are being absolutely clear that rail is a critical part of the country's post-COVID recovery:

#RailForAll is what every other UK party should have already created, and is a frankly damning critique of the failure of @TheGreenParty to make their case for rail, rather than constantly banging their #GreensAgainstRail drum.

Congratulations to @JohnFinnieHI and the team.