Rail Engineer • January 2017
STATIONS
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Tram stop.
£41m investment will offer huge benefits to rail passengers travelling to or from the Gogar area, integrating the rail network with the tram network and providing a convenient link to Edinburgh Airport.” George Lowder, chief executive of Transport for Edinburgh added: “The opening of Edinburgh Gateway brings us another step closer to fully integrated passenger transport for Edinburgh and the Edinburgh city region.” To promote the use of the new Edinburgh Gateway station, ScotRail has introduced through tickets with a reduced price for the tram journey to the airport. It has also installed a rail ticket machine at the Edinburgh airport tram stop. Each year, over five million passengers use the tram and eleven million travellers used the airport, which plans to significantly increase its traffic. The Gyle shopping centre is also promoting the station. Being on the tram route, nearby business parks will also benefit from the new Gateway. Nevertheless, Edinburgh Gateway station is not initially expected to carry large numbers of passengers. There are, however, big plans for the area around it, including 1,500 new homes immediately north of the station for which there is passive provision for a footbridge, and
a £700 million International Business Gateway development adjacent to the airport built around the tram line. Furthermore, the tram-connected Edinburgh Park business area is not yet fully developed. By December 2018, EGIP will provide the Edinburgh to Glasgow main line with a 33 per cent increase in capacity. Notwithstanding this, the Network Rail Scotland Route Study, which considers route enhancements required up to 2043, envisages that there will eventually
be a need to build the Almond Chord at an indicative cost of £200 million. This would then give the Gateway station a direct connection to Glasgow. Whilst this large station may initially not be very busy, planned developments, and those that it will generate, will no doubt see it become well-used in a few years’ time. Hence, rather than being built to catch up with increasing passenger numbers, Edinburgh Gateway is indeed a station for the future.