Winchburgh Train Station Impact Report and City of Edinburgh Broxburn – Maybury road improvements consultation.

It has long been on record that Winchburgh Developments has always supported a train station for Winchburgh. The station has been a key feature of the masterplan since planning permission in principle was awarded in 2012. However, it is not in our power to build one though. This has to be done by Network Rail with support from Scotrail, Transport Scotland and other stakeholders.

To help move this forward we commissioned specialist consultants to produce a report on the direct impact on Winchburgh and the wider regional benefits to Edinburgh and the Lothians. This is an important part of our response to the consultation on road transport plans for the west of Edinburgh – Broxburn to Maybury –  which closes on the 5th September . 

Please read the full impact report. We have also summarised the main points here.

• Trips on congested roads to central Edinburgh would be replaced with train journeys taking less than 15 minutes.
• An estimated 1,658 car journeys could be taken off the road per day with a station at Winchburgh, which would amount to around 419,490 car journeys annually.
• Remaining road users would benefit from reduced congestion and society would benefit from reduced levels of greenhouse gases and improved air quality.
• The station would support direct benefits to passengers of £2.4m a year and generate at least £3.5m of decongestion benefits a year.
• The station would serve a wider regional catchment of around 27,000 people. This is more than double the projected population of Winchburgh.

Our main concerns about the proposals in the Council ‘consultation are summarized below:

• The changes are mainly to widen the road, add bus lanes and create some crossings between Broxburn and west Edinburgh for a cost of  £36m.
• These measures start at the far east of Broxburn, which is mainly industrial and quite far from the main residential areas. This is little or no incentive to local residents to take the bus over the car. 
• They don’t improve links with other communities, such as Winchburgh. This is also little or no incentive to these residents to take the bus over the car.
• They don’t address the bottleneck at Newbridge Roundabout.
• There’s no recognition of the problems facing bus service operators in terms of staffing and vehicle provision, and they don’t address the ongoing issue of service reliability.

As well as the benefits above, Winchburgh rail station:

• Would have a much larger catchment than a bus service.
• Would be able to move far more people than a bus service.
• Would take pressure off Linlithgow and Polmont stations with the park and ride. 
• Is already programmed into the rail timetable for the Edinburgh-Glasgow line.
• Would stimulate regional economic growth. 
• Would reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

We believe that a train station for Winchburgh is a much better use of public funds and would actually cost less than what’s being proposed. 

Please also read our full consultation response here.

You can have your say by filling out the feedback form on the City of Edinburgh Council’s website.