Transport: How far does this take us?

Brexit plays its part in ushering in new urgency in joining the inter-modal dots that add the speedier, more efficient dashes demanded by businesses and commuters alike.

Yet even before the shock result of the EU Referendum, calls were being made by those in the know for a more acute, longer-term planning culture in assessing core imperatives, embracing resilience while stimulating economic growth and greater user engagement.

The 1,200 member Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation Scotland (CIHT) underlined reminders in an all-party briefing paper ahead of the May Scottish Parliamentary elections.

Its chief components await comprehensive responses in the context of the Institution’s overarching recommendation of a fuller review of the Scottish Government’s National Transport Strategy, following a recent "refresh", to which it contributed its expert counsel.

Neil Johnstone, Chair of CIHT’s Scottish Policy Forum, remarks: "Scotland relies on an efficient transport network to support economic growth and social development. The performance of this network, including its reliability and resilience, is fundamental to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the Scotland and the rest of the UK.
"Our briefing includes calls for commitments to long-term funding and a full review of the National Transport Strategy. We have focused on the action needed to ensure that Scotland and the UK is able to compete globally, support social inclusion and reduce the UK’s carbon emissions – now and in the future."

CIHT’s paper advised: "Any renewed strategy should include the strategic and local level for roads, rail, aviation and ports and set out how these networks integrate with one another. It is important that the government maintains its investment momentum on major links in the road and rail network, both within Scotland and also connections with the rest of UK and Europe."

Maintaining investment levels in the transport infrastructure is a noticeable theme. "The whole life cost of transport infrastructure, including its ongoing maintenance, needs to be recognised and resourced appropriately," the paper states.

The UK Government’s new Infrastructure and Project Authority (IPA) – a January 2016 merger of the former Infrastructure UK and the Projects Authority – is supportive. It indicates long-term certainty and transparency of funding can deliver efficiency savings of 15 per cent to 20 per cent. That, IPA says, is achieved through giving the private sector the confidence to invest in people, plant and equipment and to build long-term supplier relationships.

Meanwhile, CIHT preferred priorities for investment in Scotland’s transport network include two pivotal matters:

Maintaining the network and preventing deterioration, reducing longer-term costs through encouraging a planned rather than reactive approach to investment.

Making better use of network assets (roads, rail links, etc.), for example with ‘intelligent infrastructure’ enabled through advances in technology. This involves rapid introduction of a national cross-boundary smart card for all public transport modes.

Building upon the Abellio ScotRail/Network Rail alliance to create a "more integrated" railway system is seen as vital. Passenger miles are increasing.

Electrification of the main Glasgow to Edinburgh rail connection and associated timetable are well documented. But the integration issue finds additional resonance in the prospect of high speed (HS) rail and the need to expand plans for HS2 – the London to Birmingham and (later) Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds routes – to terminate in Glasgow and Edinburgh, via Carstairs.

Even without full HS capability, the new 400m-long trains deployed are too long to use current platforms at Glasgow Central Station, requiring station redevelopment planning by the 2033 service date.

In the south there remain doubters of the business case to expand HS2 to Scotland; the Scottish Government needs to articulate the need more forcefully. CIHT says accelerated delivery of high speed rail connections will maximise economic benefits, encouraging mode shift from air to rail resulting from the advertised sub-three hour journey time from Glasgow to London. The result: cleaner and quicker door to door – but only with agreement to extend.

Is there Scottish Government resolve across the transport topic? Some intent is evident. The £500 million M8/M73/M74 central motorway upgrade programme is an example.Travel-to-work corridor improvement is a proven fundament of job creation, skills availability and human resource retention. It impacts positively on carbon emissions and government environmental targets, related by virtue of transport’s status as an enabling medium.

For road haulage operators it will unlock margins and enhance reliability in delivery schedules. Sceptics might ask why it has taken half a century to complete the M8. It was started in 1965 but built in piecemeal fashion between our two largest city regions – in hindsight hardly a clever strategy, though one based on Treasury expenditure policies of the time.

Germany and Italy provided reference blueprints in the 1920s and ’30s. These served a variety of economic rationales, including a need for direct employment in construction.

The second main road crossing over the Forth is now nearing completion, an impressive icon of modern civil engineering. It was promised early, opening later this year but is now put back to May 2017, due to "adverse weather" issues affecting progress.

Was its construction given the green light early enough, however? The original suspension-type Forth Road Bridge, which opened in 1964, hit the headlines last year after being closed to all traffic, then to heavy truck freight with understandably angry responses from the Road Haulage Association based on worries for members’ costs.

The potential consequences of multiple failure of older steel components required investigation. Remedial work done, necessary lengthy testing followed. But the ultimate blame appears to have been laid at the door of a lack of public spend authority on timely recommended maintenance regimes, rather than any engineering inspection ineptitude.

Less popular, though perhaps just as necessary, is CIHT’s advancement of the case to consider road charging for its potentially significant contribution to the next levels of infrastructure funding.

The Scottish travelling public won’t like it. But it may prove to be the price of securing future competitiveness. 

The future is now

Business travellers will be of a certain vintage to recall, in the 1970s, when the west coast line between Glasgow and London was the envy of Europe. They are now likely to be queuing at the Forth Road Bridge pending the late opening of the Queensferry Crossing or cursing Glasgow’s delayed subway improvements, which have kept the system closed beyond the promised completion date.

Here and elsewhere, a raft of new transportation methods are challenging our perceptions. Shanghai’s Maglev train service opened as long ago as 2004, with a top speed of 268mph. Domino’s Pizza has unleashed a prototype driverless delivery system while Amazon is developing drone deliveries. The technology is already there – as are driverless cars – but accidents will happen and the law is struggling to keep up with the implications for safety and privacy.