The first view of how Winchburgh’s new station could look has been released as plans have been lodged with West Lothian Council.
The move comes a day after the council agreed that subject to approval tomorrow (Friday), council officers will now progress a case for funding for the project through the City Region Deal.
It comes ten months after the council signed up to be a co-promoter of the station alongside Winchburgh Developments Ltd and more than a decade since a re-opened station was agreed for the rapidly expanding community.
A spokesperson confirmed that an update will be taken back to a future meeting of the council’s Executive.
The station could be operational by the end of the decade taking huge pressure off neighbouring communities including Linlithgow and Uphall which deal with the bulk of commuter traffic on the line at the moment.
The plans are likely to be decided on matters specified which means the principle of the station has already been accepted; only details have to be agreed.
Transport Scotland told the Local Democracy Reporting Service earlier this week that it would fund the fit out of any new station. However, councillors have called for the Scottish Government to commit to fund the station which could cost £22.5m.
The council will seek funding through the City Region Deal, a mechanism that unites six surrounding local authorities with private industry and universities to source UK and Scottish government investment in infrastructure.
The council’s report confirms that both the Outline Business Case and station design are complete which allows progress to be made with a funding bid for the station.
The Outline Business Case identifies the positive benefits of a new railway station at Winchburgh on the Edinburgh – Falkirk High – Glasgow railway line.
The proposed design will incorporate a 100-space car park with space for future expansion.
A report to the council last week detailed: “An additional stop at Winchburgh has already been incorporated within the timetable for the Edinburgh – Dunblane service and this has no timetabling impacts on the Edinburgh- Falkirk High – Glasgow timetable.”
“Modelling of the station forecasts around 625 passengers boarding per day at Winchburgh in 2030, increasing to 768 in 2045.
“In the morning peak hour there will be around 80 passengers travelling towards Edinburgh and an estimated 50 towards Stirling. This will equate to an increase of around 10% in rail usage on the Stirling to Edinburgh rail service.
“Winchburgh passenger demand is forecast to grow by around 20% between 2030-45. There is likely to be a 20-25% reduction in bus patronage when the station opens but this loss will be recovered as the housing development is built out.”
As a comparison of passenger usage at neighbouring railway stations shows Linlithgow has 1,400 passengers a day and Uphall with 650.
Only Falkirk High, with 1,100 passengers comes close to Linlithgow, with passenger numbers in the hundreds at Polmost and Falkirk Grahamston.
Speaking at the meeting of the Executive on Tuesday, Linluthgow Councillor Sally Pattle highlighted the problem with parking exacerbated by the numbers of people driving to Linlithgow to commute by train
A steering group, which includes the lead developer, Winchburgh Developments, Transport Scotland, Network Rail, SEStran, ScotRail, the City Region Deal and the council, has been meeting monthly for around a year now and “good progress is being made”.
The steering group reports to a stakeholder group comprising MSPs and elected members from the council together with members of the steering group. The next meeting of the stakeholder group has been confirmed for later this month.
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
