A councillor has said he would be “strongly in favour” of looking at linking Kinross to Edinburgh by rail.
Kinross-shire councillor Mike Barnacle has said he would like to see a railway line opened up between Kinross and the capital in a bid to improve public transport links between the two.
This comes after Transport Scotland confirmed to the PA it was looking at proposals to open up a more direct rail route between Perth and Edinburgh.
Cllr Barnacle said: “I have always supported the concept of bringing back a rail link to Kinross.
“In our 2004 local plan we had a policy to protect the railway lines from south of Kinross to the Fife border.
“We can’t have a proposal for a new rail route that doesn’t have the support of the Scottish Government, but as I understand it now, Transport Scotland may be looking into that.
“I have always wanted a section from Kinross to the Fife circle to be looked at because Kinross Community Council did a survey many years ago and that came out as the most popular thing, to restore that railway line.”
This comes after fellow Kinross-shire councillor Callum Purves called for proposals to look at opening the line between Perth and Edinburgh in its entirety last week.
Cllr Barnacle said if this is not possible, getting a link from Kinross to the capital would be the next best thing.
He continued: “Simply linking Fife to Kinross would be a good move, even if the line went no further.
We did have a full council motion accepted that everyone supported to say that, which is why the independent councillors in their capital budget proposed a feasibility study on it.
“Nothing will happen unless you make it happen, and we need to get a push along the road.
“I am strongly in favour of a rail link in the very first instance connecting Kinross to the Fife circle, and I would like Perth and Kinross Council to press the government on that point.
“It has been said to be ‘but we will get more houses in Kinross’ - but we are getting the houses anyway and as far as I am concerned we are a commuter town that unfortunately serves Edinburgh.
“That is why they had to build a new bridge, because of the volume of traffic, so anything to get cars off the road and onto the railway should be supported.
“I think it is something we need to discuss because we don’t have a railway in Kinross-shire.
“It takes longer to get from Perth to Edinburgh by train than it did at the end of the 19th century, so we need to something about it.”
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for Transport Scotland said: “Work has just started on our second strategic transport projects review which is considering how best to connect all parts of Scotland in future.
“Transport links between Edinburgh and Perth will be considered as part of the review.”
