Hansard

This morning, I intend to share with the committee the excellent progress that has been made in transport, despite challenging weather conditions, since we last met in October. The annual Scottish transport statistics, which were published last week, provide an encouraging insight into areas in which we are performing well, together with indications of where more work will be beneficial in continuing to deliver our transport vision. Once again, we have seen increases in rail use and cycling, which is a clear sign that our continued investment in those areas is paying dividends. The Scottish Government is currently delivering the most extensive investment programme ever in our railways, worth £5 billion up to 2019. Although there has been a small decline in bus use, we have remained committed to supporting bus services through the £240 million that is made available through the bus service operators grant and the concessionary bus travel scheme. We are also pushing forward with the introduction of smart ticketing, which will be rolled out across more transport services. One of the most encouraging signs is the fact that almost three quarters of all journeys to school are made by active or public transport. That provides a real opportunity to encourage the next generation to leave the car behind, while providing environmental and health benefits now. Although the increase in car registrations reflects the on-going economic recovery in Scotland, the Scottish Government remains focused on reducing emissions and congestion by encouraging a greater number of journeys by public and active travel. We are investing more than £1 billion a year to get people out of their cars, including taking overall investment in active travel to a record £39.2 million for 2015-16, matching last year’s record investment in cycling and walking. The latest statistics confirm the trend that was identified during the refresh of the national transport strategy, which was undertaken in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. I saw that refresh as the beginning of a conversation that will lead to a fuller, more collaborative and comprehensive review of the transport strategy by the Scottish Government in the next session of Parliament. I appeared before the committee two weeks ago to discuss the closure of the Forth road bridge in early December. I paid tribute to all the staff involved for the swift and dedicated actions that were undertaken, often in challenging circumstances, to repair the fault, carry out further maintenance and reopen the bridge to all traffic ahead of schedule on 20 February—a feat that has been described as a “remarkable achievement” by an independent suspension bridge expert. On the rail network, part of the Lamington viaduct was left on the brink of failure by flood damage that was caused by storm Frank on new year’s eve, and its closure was decided. Thanks to the efforts of all the people who worked on making the structure secure and rebuilding it, especially amid challenging weather conditions, vital passenger and freight services that rely on the west coast mainline resumed ahead of schedule. In the middle of January, in advance of the forthcoming 20-week closure of Queen Street station’s high-level tunnel, I launched the ScotRail alliance’s communications campaign to inform the public of changes to timetables. Although I understand that that work will cause some inconvenience to passengers, the Network Rail and ScotRail alliance is working to ensure that services are maintained where possible, that disruption is kept to a minimum and that passengers are kept well informed throughout the work. Also in the middle of January, I was pleased to welcome colleagues from all our island authorities to the first meeting of the islands transport forum. Effective and reliable transport links are essential for island communities, and we had constructive talks on the main issues, including a particular focus on air services, where I believe that we have made significant progress. The recent increase from 40 per cent to 50 per cent in the air discount scheme—itself extended until 2019—offers travellers from remote communities a significant discount on air fares. The new regular ferry service on the Ardrossan to Campbeltown route is one of a number of enhancements that are being brought in as part of this summer’s timetable, which will increase overall capacity across the Clyde and Hebrides network and make sure that we get the most out of our ferry fleet. On the subject of our ferry fleet, I am delighted to have cut the first steel on the first of our two new 100-metre ferries, marking the start of construction on that massive £97 million project, which has brought large shipbuilding back to the Clyde. The vessels will also be dual-fuel ferries, allowing them to use cleaner fuel and future-proofing them against the advent of tighter regulations around sulphur emissions. Recent analysis of the roll-out of road equivalent tariff to Islay, Colonsay and Gigha in 2012 shows an increase in passenger numbers and a rise in the number of visitors to the islands. That shows that RET is doing exactly what we intended it to do: it is promoting our islands by reducing the cost of ferry travel, making them more attractive to visitors and helping to support those local economies. On road safety, in the first year of operation of the new average speed cameras on the A9, there were no fatal accidents anywhere on the route from July to December. Those improvements are taking place against rising traffic volumes and the continuing use of that nationally important route to support the economy of the Highlands and Islands. We are monitoring the performance of the A9 and welcome the figures, which indicate that the route continues to perform far more safely than before. Every road death is one too many, and that is why we remain steadfastly committed to reducing casualty numbers even further as we continue to work with all our partners to reach our ambitious targets for 2020. At the end of January, we announced funding of £24 million to take forward the design and construction of a new grade-separated junction at Laurencekirk, which has been a long-standing commitment of the Scottish Government. The funding boost for Laurencekirk is part of an extra £254 million that we are investing as part of Aberdeen’s city deal, adding to our already impressive transport infrastructure investment portfolio, which includes the £745 million Aberdeen bypass, £170 million of improvements to the Aberdeen to Inverness rail line, improved road access on the A96 at the Inveramsay bridge, dualling the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness and preparation work to remove the notorious bottleneck at the Haudagain roundabout. The Forth replacement crossing is being built on time and under budget. I am aware that the committee received a full update from the project team last week. Construction work on the M8, M73 and M74 motorway improvements is well under way and is scheduled for completion in spring 2017. I see that I am trying your patience, convener.