IT was the remote Scottish railway line famously saved from the Beeching axe, but a new book on the history Far North Line has warned that plummeting passenger numbers and a "shambolic" service are again threatening the route's survival.
David Spaven, a rail consultant and author whose own father played a key role in rescuing the Inverness-Thurso/Wick line from closure as civil servant at the Scottish Office in the 1960s, said its high subsidies could make it a prime target for cost-cutting once the current ScotRail franchise expires.
In his book, 'Highland Survivor: the story of the Far North Line', he estimates that keeping it open is costing Transport Scotland £15-20 million a year - equivalent to £40 per passenger journey.
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Mr Spaven told the Herald: "If we get into a prolonged year of economic difficulties then people are going to be getting out their sharpened pencils to look at areas of government expenditure.
"That's what worries me about the Far North Line - if it is performing as poorly as it is now, and passenger numbers are continuing to drop and we haven't got any more freight traffic on it, somebody is going to say 'this isn't value for money. We could lay on express buses every hour from Inverness and do it for a tiny fraction of the price of the railway'."
With long single-track sections and increasingly unreliable Class 158 trains dating back to the British Rail era, travellers have grown weary.
Between 2013/14 and 2014/15, passenger numbers at Dingwall station plunged 14 per cent and by eight per cent at Muir of Ord. At Wick, barely a quarter of trains arrive on time.
Network Rail's recent Scotland Route Study noted that services between Inverness and Invergordon were "hourly at best" during peak times and recommended building additional track and loops, as well as modernising the radio-controlled signalling system, to enable more trains to run.
Mr Spaven endorses similar interventions but also calls for other innovations, such as bespoke Highland trains with 'observation decks' to lure tourists
"I think the approach to maximising tourist potential on the Far North Line has been really half-hearted for a really long time," said Mr Spaven.
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"If you go to Austria or Switzerland, you travel in bespoke tourist trains that have observation cars. That's the way to draw people in.
"When the Borders Railway opened, ministers were eulogising about the scenic quality of the railway and now we're seeing charter trains, steam-hauled trains, and lots more people going down to visit Abbotsford, Melrose and so on.
"But the reality is that the Far North Line is far more scenic than the Borders Railway - but there's not enough done to attract the tourists onto it."
Mr Spaven also advocates piloting a German-style "micro-franchise" on the line, which would hand control over everything from the trains to the track to local managers to run according to the community's own priorities - be that commuting, freight, or tourist travel.
A spokeswoman for ScotRail said it had recently invested £6m in infrastructure along the route and had "no plans" to close the line.
A spokesman for Transport Scotland said £14m was being spent refurbishing the C158 trains, adding: "We recognise the importance of the Far North Line to those communities which rely on it as a vital public transport link.? As part of the current investment programme there has been significant track and signalling upgrades as well as improvements to level crossings along the route.
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"Of course, the unique nature of the line poses certain challenges, however ?it will be part of ScotRail’s Great Scenic Railways of Scotland which will market Scotland’s scenery, its heritage and its tourist attractions to a wider audience."
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